teca

See also: Appendix:Variations of "teca"

Catalan

Etymology 1

Probably deverbal from encatacar-se (“to eat”), in turn a cross between atacar-se (“to attack”), encarcanyar-se, and Old Catalan entecar-se (“to be contagious”), alteration of *eticar-se, from ètic (“phthisic, tuberculosis”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈtɛ.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈte.ka]

Noun

teca f (plural teques)

1. (colloquial) food

Etymology 2

Probably borrowed from Spanish teca; in turn from Portuguese teca, from Malayalam തേക്ക് (tēkkŭ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈte.ka]

Noun

teca f (plural teques)

1. (botany) teak

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin thēca (“case, envelope, sheath”), from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈtɛ.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈte.ka]

Noun

teca f (plural teques)

1. (biology) theca

Further reading

• “teca”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “teca”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “teca” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “teca”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Classical Nahuatl

Etymology

From Proto-Nahuan *teeka, from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *tïkaC.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teːka/

Verb

tēca

1. (transitive) To lay (something) down; spread (something) out on a flat surface.
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 199r:

     Poner coſas largas tendidas. nic,teca.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (reflexive) To lie down.
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 6r:

     Acoſtarme o echarme, nino,teca.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • ibid., f. 90v.

     Echarſe como en cama. nino,teca.

3. (transitive, of a man) To have sex with.
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 137v:

     Hazerlo hõbre ala muger. nite,teca.nite,y ecoa.tetechn,aci.niccui. uiccuicui. [sic]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (transitive) To pour.

Synonyms

• (sex) yecoa, tetech ahci, cui, cuicui

References

• Andrews, J. Richard (2003), Workbook for Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, rev. ed. edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 250
• Karttunen, Frances (1983), An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, Austin: University of Texas Press, page 215
• Lockhart, James (2001), Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts, Stanford: Stanford University Press, page 232

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin theca (16th century), from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē). Doublet of the inherited tega.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɛka
• Hyphenation: tè‧ca

Noun

teca f (plural teche)

1. a small reliquary

Anagrams

• tace

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.kɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.kɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ka/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.kɐ/

• Rhymes: -ɛkɐ
• Hyphenation: te‧ca

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Malayalam തേക്ക് (tēkkŭ) / Tamil தேக்கு (tēkku).

Noun

teca f (plural tecas)

1. teak (Tectona grandis)

Descendants

• → Dutch: teak
• → English: teak
  • → Finnish: teak, tiikki
  • → Telugu: టేకు (ṭēku)
• → Spanish: teca, teka (obsolete)
  • → Catalan: teca

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin thēca, from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē).

Noun

teca f (plural tecas)

1. (anatomy) theca (covering or membrane, usually of a fibrous nature, that surrounds certain organs)
2. (botany) theca (each of the dilated parts of an anther within which are the pollen sacs)
3. quantity of fish belonging to each of the fishermen, in a haul (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
4. (informal) money

   Synonym: dinheiro

5. (Brazil, Roman Catholicism) pyx (small container used to carry viaticum to the sick)

   Synonym: caixa-cibório

Further reading

• “teca”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “teca” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “teca”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2026
• “teca”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “teca”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “teca”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

teca f (Cyrillic spelling теца)

1. (Kajkavian) aunt

   Synonym: teta

Declension

Kajkavian declension of teca

	singular	plural
nominative	teca	tece
genitive	tece	tec
dative	tece	tecam
accusative	tecu	tece
vocative	-	-
locative	tece	tecah
instrumental	tecu	tecami

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteka/ [ˈt̪e.ka]
• Rhymes: -eka
• Syllabification: te‧ca

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Portuguese teca.

Noun

teca f (plural tecas)

1. teak

Alternative forms

• teka (obsolete)

Etymology 2

From Latin thēca.

Noun

teca f (plural tecas)

1. (biology) theca

Further reading

• “teca”, 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

Welsh

Etymology

teg +‎ -a

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛka/

Adjective

teca

1. (colloquial) informal form of tecaf (“fairest”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of teca

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
teca	deca	nheca	theca

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.