oba

See also: Appendix:Variations of "oba"

Languages (23)

English

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Aklanon • Antigua and Barbuda Creole English • Azerbaijani • Chungli Ao • Czech • Guhu-Samane • Gullah • Irish • Japanese • Laz • Old Czech • Old High German • Old Polish • Old Tupi • Polish • Portuguese • Serbo-Croatian • Slovak • Spanish • Turkish • Turkmen • Volapük

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Page categories

English

Alternative forms

• ọba

Etymology

From Yoruba ọba.

Noun

oba (plural obas)

1. A king of a Yoruba polity.

Derived terms

• iyoba
• obaship

Translations

A Yoruba king

• Portuguese: obá (pt) m

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “oba”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• Åbo, bao, AOB, boa, Abo, ABO, BAO, Boa, a.o.b., OAB, Bao, abo, A/B/O

Aklanon

Adjective

oba

1. naked

Antigua and Barbuda Creole English

Adjective

oba

1. over

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Cognates are found only in Oghuz languages, such as Turkmen ōba (“village”), Turkish oba (“large nomad tent; clan, tribe, village”). Compare, however, ova (“plains”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

oba (definite accusative obanı, plural obalar)

1. camp of nomads or herdsmen
2. a small village or settlement
3. (chiefly iran) yurt

Declension

Declension of oba

	singular	plural
nominative	oba	obalar
definite accusative	obanı	obaları
dative	obaya	obalara
locative	obada	obalarda
ablative	obadan	obalardan
definite genitive	obanın	obaların

Possessive forms of oba

	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	obam	obalarım
sənin (“your”)	oban	obaların
onun (“his/her/its”)	obası	obaları
bizim (“our”)	obamız	obalarımız
sizin (“your”)	obanız	obalarınız
onların (“their”)	obası or obaları	obaları
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	obamı	obalarımı
sənin (“your”)	obanı	obalarını
onun (“his/her/its”)	obasını	obalarını
bizim (“our”)	obamızı	obalarımızı
sizin (“your”)	obanızı	obalarınızı
onların (“their”)	obasını or obalarını	obalarını
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	obama	obalarıma
sənin (“your”)	obana	obalarına
onun (“his/her/its”)	obasına	obalarına
bizim (“our”)	obamıza	obalarımıza
sizin (“your”)	obanıza	obalarınıza
onların (“their”)	obasına or obalarına	obalarına
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	obamda	obalarımda
sənin (“your”)	obanda	obalarında
onun (“his/her/its”)	obasında	obalarında
bizim (“our”)	obamızda	obalarımızda
sizin (“your”)	obanızda	obalarınızda
onların (“their”)	obasında or obalarında	obalarında
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	obamdan	obalarımdan
sənin (“your”)	obandan	obalarından
onun (“his/her/its”)	obasından	obalarından
bizim (“our”)	obamızdan	obalarımızdan
sizin (“your”)	obanızdan	obalarınızdan
onların (“their”)	obasından or obalarından	obalarından
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	obamın	obalarımın
sənin (“your”)	obanın	obalarının
onun (“his/her/its”)	obasının	obalarının
bizim (“our”)	obamızın	obalarımızın
sizin (“your”)	obanızın	obalarınızın
onların (“their”)	obasının or obalarının	obalarının

Derived terms

• el-oba

Further reading

• “oba” in Obastan.com.

Chungli Ao

Noun

oba

1. one's own father

Further reading

• Gowda, K. S. Gurubasave (1985), Ao-English-Hindi Dictionary, Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages, page 21
• Clark, E. W. (1911), “OBA”, in Ao-Naga dictionary, Dimapur

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech oba, from Proto-Slavic *oba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oba/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

oba m (feminine/neuter obě)

1. both

Declension

Declension of oba

plural
		masculine	feminine/neuter
nominative		oba	obě
genitive		obou
dative		oběma
accusative		oba	obě
locative		obou
instrumental		oběma

Further reading

• “oba”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “oba”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “oba”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Guhu-Samane

Noun

oba

1. water

References

• Ritva Hemmilä, Orthography and Phonology Database: Islands and Momase Regions (Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1998), page 42, Guhu-Samane

Gullah

Alternative forms

• obuh

Etymology

From English over.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.bə/, /o.bɒ/

Preposition

oba

1. over
2. above

References

• De Nyew Testament‎^[2], Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc., 2025
• Virginia Mixson Geraty, Gulluh fuh oonuh: Gullah for You (1997)
• Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association. Afro-Seminole Creole Wikitongues Language Class

Irish

Noun

oba

1. alternative form of hob

Mutation

Mutated forms of oba

radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
oba	n-oba	hoba	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “oba”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Japanese

Romanization

oba

1. Rōmaji transcription of おば

Laz

Noun

oba

1. Latin spelling of ობა (oba)

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈoba/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈoba/

Numeral

oba

1. both

Declension

Declension of oba

dual
	masculine	feminine/neuter
nominative	oba	obě
genitive	obú
dative	oběma
accusative	oba	obě
locative	obú
instrumental	oběma

Descendants

• Czech: oba

References

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916), “oba”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Old High German

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *oba, from Proto-Germanic *uba (“above”). Akin to ūf (“up”).

Alternative forms

• ob

Preposition

oba

1. above

Adverb

oba

1. above

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *jabai.

Conjunction

oba

1. alternative form of ibu

Descendants

• Middle High German: obe, ob, op
  • German: ob
  • Yiddish: אויב (oyb)

References

• Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch‎^[3] (in German), 6th edition

Old Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Balto-Slavic *abōˀ

Proto-Slavic *oba

Old Polish oba

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oba. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /ɔba/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ɔba/

Numeral

oba

1. both

Descendants

• Polish: oba
• Silesian: ôba

References

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005), “oba”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
• Mańczak, Witold (2017), “oba”, in Polski słownik etymologiczny (in Polish), Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności, →ISBN
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000), “oba”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “oba”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Old Tupi

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *oβ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.βa/
• Rhymes: -ɔβa
• Hyphenation: o‧ba

Noun

oba (possessable, IIe class pluriform, absolute soba, R1 roba, R2 soba)

1. leaf (green, flat organ of most vegetative plants)

   Synonym: ka'a

Usage notes

Some 18th century sources seem to restrict its usage to tree leaves, using ka'a for herbs. Modern Nheengatu uses awa for any leaf nonetheless.

Related terms

• 'ysokoba
• anhumatiroba
• karaobamirĩ
• ob
• pakoba
• paîemarĩoba
• piraroba
• potisoba

Descendants

• Nheengatu: awa

References

• anonymous author (1622), “Folha de qualquer aruore ou erua [Leaf of any tree or herb]”, in Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica (overall work in Portuguese), Piratininga; republished as Carlos Drummond, editor, Vocabulário na Língua Brasílica, 2nd edition, volume 2, São Paulo: USP, 1953, page 141: “Çoba [Soba]”
• Meisterburg, Anton [attributed] (a. 1756), “Folha qlq͡r [Any leaf]”, in [Dicionário de Trier] [Dictionary from Trier] (overall work in Portuguese and Língua Geral Amazônica), Baixo Xingu; Pará, line çóba. çóva; republished as Jean-Claude Muller et al., editors, Dicionário de língua geral amazônica [Língua Geral Amazônica Dictionary], Potsdam: University of Potsdam, 2019, →DOI: “soba”

Further reading

• Navarro, Eduardo de Almeida (2013), “oba”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil [Dictionary of Old Tupi: The Classical Indigenous Language of Brazil ] (overall work in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, page 353, column 1

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Balto-Slavic *abōˀ

Proto-Slavic *oba

Old Polish oba

Polish oba

Inherited from Old Polish oba.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ba/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ba/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔba
• Syllabification: o‧ba
• Homophone: -oba

Numeral

oba (collective oboje)

1. both

   Synonym: obydwa

Declension

Declension of oba (irregular)

		plural
		masculine personal	masculine nonpersonal	feminine	neuter
nominative		obaj	oba	obie	oba
genitive		obu, obóch
dative		obu, obom, obóm
accusative		obu, obóch	oba	obie	oba
instrumental		oboma, obu		obiema, oboma, obu	oboma, obu
locative		obu, obóch

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), oba is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 35 times in scientific texts, 47 times in news, 26 times in essays, 48 times in fiction, and 14 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 170 times, making it the 338th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• “oba”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[4] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “oba”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[5] (in Polish)
• Maria Renata Mayenowa; Stanisław Rospond; Witold Taszycki; Stefan Hrabec; Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023), “oba”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “OBA”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 1 July 2018
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “oba”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “oba”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1904), “oba”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 3, Warsaw, page 433

Portuguese

Etymology

Ultimately a natural exclamation.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈo.bɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈo.bɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈo.ba/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈo.bɐ/ [ˈo.βɐ]

• Rhymes: -obɐ
• Hyphenation: o‧ba

Interjection

oba

1. (colloquial, usually childish) whee; yay (expression of pleasure or enjoyment)

   Synonyms: iúpi, eba

Derived terms

• oba-oba

Further reading

• “oba”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “oba”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ôba/
• Hyphenation: o‧ba

Numeral

ȍba (Cyrillic spelling о̏ба)

1. both (for masculine and neuter pairs)

   Synonym: ȍbadvā

Declension

Declension of oba

	m & n	f *
nominative	ȍba	ȍbje, ȍbe
genitive	obàjū	obìjū, obѐjū
dative	obàma	objèma, obèma
accusative	ȍba	ȍbje, ȍbe
vocative	ȍba	ȍbje, ȍbe
locative	obàma	objèma, obèma
instrumental	obàma	objèma, obèma

* Feminine forms listed in Ijekavian and Ekavian pairs.

Related terms

• ȍbje/ȍbe (for feminine pairs)
• ȍboje (for mixed pairs)
• obòjica

Slovak

Alternative forms

• obidva

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *oba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔba/, [ˈɔba]
• Rhymes: -ɔba
• Hyphenation: o‧ba

Pronoun

oba m inan

1. both

Declension

Declension of obaja

plural
		masculine		feminine/neuter
		animate	inanimate
nominative		obaja	oba	obe
genitive		oboch
dative		obom
accusative		oboch	oba	obe
locative		oboch
instrumental		oboma, obomi

Further reading

• “oba”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Spanish

Adjective

oba f

1. feminine singular of obo

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish اوبه (“large tent; nomad family”). Cognate with Azerbaijani oba, Turkmen ōba (“village”).

Noun

oba (definite accusative obayı, plural obalar)

1. clan, tribe, village

Declension

Declension of oba

singular plural nominative oba obalar definite accusative obayı obaları dative obaya obalara locative obada obalarda ablative obadan obalardan genitive obanın obaların Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular obam obalarım 2nd singular oban obaların 3rd singular obası obaları 1st plural obamız obalarımız 2nd plural obanız obalarınız 3rd plural obaları obaları definite accusative singular plural 1st singular obamı obalarımı 2nd singular obanı obalarını 3rd singular obasını obalarını 1st plural obamızı obalarımızı 2nd plural obanızı obalarınızı 3rd plural obalarını obalarını dative singular plural 1st singular obama obalarıma 2nd singular obana obalarına 3rd singular obasına obalarına 1st plural obamıza obalarımıza 2nd plural obanıza obalarınıza 3rd plural obalarına obalarına locative singular plural 1st singular obamda obalarımda 2nd singular obanda obalarında 3rd singular obasında obalarında 1st plural obamızda obalarımızda 2nd plural obanızda obalarınızda 3rd plural obalarında obalarında ablative singular plural 1st singular obamdan obalarımdan 2nd singular obandan obalarından 3rd singular obasından obalarından 1st plural obamızdan obalarımızdan 2nd plural obanızdan obalarınızdan 3rd plural obalarından obalarından genitive singular plural 1st singular obamın obalarımın 2nd singular obanın obalarının 3rd singular obasının obalarının 1st plural obamızın obalarımızın 2nd plural obanızın obalarınızın 3rd plural obalarının obalarının Predicative forms singular plural 1st singular obayım obalarım 2nd singular obasın obalarsın 3rd singular oba obadır obalar obalardır 1st plural obayız obalarız 2nd plural obasınız obalarsınız 3rd plural obalar obalardır

References

• oba, Nisanyan, Turkish Etymological Dictionary
• *ōpa, *ṓp`V in Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill

Turkmen

Etymology

Cognate with Azerbaijani and Turkish oba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oːˈbɑ/ (nominative)
• IPA^(key): /oːˈbɑː/ (dative)
• Rhymes: -ɑ, -ɑː
• Hyphenation: o‧ba

Adjective

obā (comparative obarak, superlative iň oba)

1. rural, agricultural

Noun

obā (definite accusative obany, plural obālar)

1. village

Declension

Declension of oba

	singular	plural
nominative	oba	obalar
accusative	obany	obalary
genitive	obanyň	obalaryň
dative	obā	obalara
locative	obada	obalarda
ablative	obadan	obalardan

Further reading

• “oba” in Webonary.org
• “oba” in Enedilim.com

Volapük

Pronoun

oba

1. (possessive) (genitive singular of ob) my, of mine

   Synonym: obik

   • 1940, “Pro yunanef Nedänik”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, pages 30, 37:

     Ziom oba binom bumavan, bumom domis in zif.

     My uncle is an architect, he builds houses in the city.

   • 1931, Arie de Jong, Gramat Volapüka, § 256:

     Blibolös nog boso! jimatan oba okömof onu.

     Please stay for a moment, my wife is coming right away.