penitencia

See also: penitência

Classical Nahuatl

Etymology

From Spanish penitencia, from Latin paenitentia.

Noun

penitencia

1. penance
   • 1565, Alonso de Molina, Confessionario mayor en la lengua Mexicana y Castellana, f. 9r:

     Auh vel timotlatemoliz, ynic yxquich vel tiquilnamiquiz motlatlacol yuan yxquich motlapal ticchiuaz, inic amo ytlacauiz mopenitencia
     Y has de examinar bien tu conſciencia, [par]a traer ala memoria todos tus peccados: y has de efforçarte quanto pudieres, [par]aque no sea im[per]fecta tu penitencia

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Portuguese

Noun

penitencia f (plural penitencias)

1. obsolete spelling of penitência

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peniˈtenθja/ [pe.niˈt̪ẽn̟.θja] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /peniˈtensja/ [pe.niˈt̪ẽn.sja] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -enθja (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• Rhymes: -ensja (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: pe‧ni‧ten‧cia

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin paenitentia.

Noun

penitencia f (plural penitencias)

1. penance

Derived terms

• hacer penitencia
• penitenciar

Related terms

• penitencial

Descendants

• → Central Bikol: penitensiya
• → Classical Nahuatl: penitencia
• → Tagalog: penitensiya

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

penitencia

1. inflection of penitenciar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “penitencia”, 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