onça

See also: onca and ONCA

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈõ.sɐ/
• Hyphenation: on‧ça

Etymology 1

From Latin uncia (“twelfth part; trifle”), from ūnus (“one”).

Noun

onça f (plural onças)

1. ounce (a unit of weight equivalent to 28.3495g)
2. (historical) a gold coin weighing approximately an ounce

Etymology 2

From Italian lonza (leopard or lynx), from Vulgar Latin *luncea, from Latin lynx, from Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx), from Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“to shine, bright, to see”).

Uma onça (jaguar).

Uma onça (leopard).

Noun

onça f (plural onças)

1. (Brazil) jaguar (Panthera onca, a feline of Latin America)

   Synonyms: jaguar, onça-pintada

2. (Angola) leopard (Panthera pardus, a feline of Africa and Asia)

   Synonyms: pantera, leopardo

3. (less commonly) cougar (Puma concolor, a pan-American feline)

   Synonyms: onça-parda, suçuarana, leão-baio, leão-da-montanha

Derived terms

• amigo da onça
• cutucar a onça com vara curta

Related terms

• lince