picca

Italian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *piccus

Noun

picca f (plural picche)

1. pike
2. pique, obstinancy, stubbornness, animosity
3. (in the plural) spades (suit of playing cards)

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Latin

Alternative forms

• pīca, pīcha, pīcea, pīcta

Etymology

Possibly from Vulgar Latin *pīccō (“to strike, sting”), possible borrowing from Frankish *pikkōn (“to peck, strike”). Alternatively from Frankish *pīk (compare Dutch pik (“pick, pickaxe”)), or from pīcus (“woodpecker”).

Noun

pīcca f (genitive pīccae); first declension

1. pickaxe, pike

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pīcca	pīccae
Genitive	pīccae	pīccārum
Dative	pīccae	pīccīs
Accusative	pīccam	pīccās
Ablative	pīccā	pīccīs
Vocative	pīcca	pīccae

Descendants

• Old French: pike, pikke
  • Middle French: picque, pique
    • French: pique
    • → Dutch: pijk, piek, pike
    • → English: pique
    • → Portuguese: pique
    • → Spanish: pique
  • → Middle English: pike, pyke, pyk (partially from Old English pīc)
    • English: pike
  • → Irish: píce
• Iberian:
  • Aragonese: pica
  • Asturian: pica
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: pica
    • Galician: pica
    • Portuguese: pica
  • Spanish: pica
• Italian: picca
• Old Occitan:
  • Occitan: piqua, (Aranese) pique
  • Catalan: pica

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Sicilian

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Latin paucus, from Proto-Italic *paukus, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few”, “little”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpikːa/

Adverb

picca

1. little, not much
2. (followed by an adjective) little, not very, poorly