papeleta

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros)bor.

Latin papȳrusslbor.

Old Catalan paperbor.

Old Spanish papel

Spanish papel

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tosder.?

Late Latin -ittus

Old French -et

Middle French -et

French -etder.

French -ettebor.

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Late Latin -ittus

Italian -ettoder.

Italian -ettabor.

Spanish -eta

Spanish papeleta

From papel + -eta.

Noun

papeleta f (plural papeletas)

1. sheet of paper
2. ballot (paper used for vote-casting)
3. certificate
4. bill
5. problem; pickle
6. (normally plural) chance; possibility; likelihood

   tiene muchas papeletas de ganar

   she's all too likely to win

Further reading

• “papeleta”, 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
• “papeleta”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010