papá

See also: Appendix:Variations of "papa"

Asturian

Noun

papá m (plural papás)

1. alternative form of pá

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /paˈpa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐˈpa/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a
• Homophone: papar (Brazil)
• Hyphenation: pa‧pá

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Middle French papa

French papabor.

Portuguese papá

Borrowed from French papa.

Noun

papá m (plural papás)

1. (Portugal, familiar) dad; daddy; father

Etymology 2

Probably of childish, onomatopoeic origin.

Noun

papá m (plural papás)

1. (Brazil, informal, childish) food, meal

Further reading

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

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paˈpa/ [paˈpa]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: pa‧pá

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Middle French papa

French papabor.

Spanish papá

Borrowed from French papa.

Noun

papá m (plural papás, feminine mamá, feminine plural mamás)

1. (colloquial, familiar, endearing) dad

   Synonyms: padre, papa

2. (colloquial, familiar, endearing, in the plural) parents

   Synonym: padre

3. (soccer, Internet slang) team that usually defeats other team

Usage notes

• When speaking to someone outside one's family, different words are used to refer to one's parents in Latin America and Spain. Latin Americans use mamá and papá, but Spanish people use madre and padre. In Spain, mamá and papá are seen as childish in this context. For example, when speaking to a friend, a Mexican would say "Mis papás me dijeron que tengo que estar en la casa a las 11.", but a person from Spain would say "Mis padres me han dicho que tengo que estar en casa a las 11.", for "My parents told me I have to be home at 11.".

Derived terms

• Papá Noel
• papaíto
• papito

Related terms

• bebé
• mamá
• Papa
• Santo Papa

Descendants

• → Cebuano: papa
• → Central Bikol: papa
• → Tagalog: papa

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

papá

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of papar

Further reading

• “papá”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025