barca

See also: Barca, bárca, barcă, Barča, and Barça

Aragonese

Etymology

From Late Latin barca, probably from Latin baris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably of Egyptian origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾka/
• Syllabification: bar‧ca
• Rhymes: -aɾka

Noun

barca f

1. boat

References

• “barca”, in Aragonario, diccionario aragonés–castellano (in Spanish)
• “barca”, in Diccionario ortografico de l’aragonés (seguntes la PO de l’EFA)‎^[2], Zaragoza: EDACAR, 2023, →ISSN

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin barca, probably from Latin baris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably of Egyptian origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈbar.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈbaɾ.ka]
• (Alghero) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.ka/

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

barca f (plural barques)

1. boat (a small watercraft)
2. (historical) a ship's company

Related terms

• bon vent i barca nova
• embarcar

References

• “barca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Anagrams

• cabra

Galician

Barca ("barge") once used to cross the Minho river in central Galicia

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese barca, from Late Latin barca, probably from Paleo-Hispanic; or either from Latin *barica, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably of Egyptian origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾka̝/

Noun

barca f (plural barcas)

1. (archaic) ship
   • 1433, A. Rodríguez González & J. Armas Castro (eds.), Minutario notarial de Pontevedra (1433-1435). Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega, page 32:

     afreto de vos Juan de Bayona, marineiro, besiño da villa de Pontevedra, que sodes presente, a barcha que dizen por nome San Salvador, que Deus salve, de que vos sodes mestre, para que prasendo a Deus, carrege ẽna dita barcha tres mill çeramis de millo, medidos por la medida dereita da praça da dita villa de Pontevedra, para a costa de Biscaya, a qual dita barcha deve de ser cargada do dito millo doje ata quinse dias segintes et dende partir con a boa ventura do primeiro boo tenpo que lle Deus der et en segimento de seu biajen ata o porto de Laredo et ende pousar ancla et estar tres dias hũu en pos de outro et enton devo eu, o dito mercador de dar devisa se iremos descargar aa vila de Vermeu ou aa vila de San Sabastian

     I affreigt from you, Xoán de Baiona, sailor, citizen of the town of Pontevedra, here present, the ship called San Salvador, God bless her, whose master you are, for, if God pleases, loading aboard that ship three thousand bushels of millet, as measured by the right measure of the marketplace of the aforementioned town of Pontevedra, bound for the coast of Biscay; and the aforementioned ship must be loaded with the mentioned millet from today till fifteen next days, and then to depart with good winds during the first good weather God gives, and following her journey till the harbour of Laredo, and there to cast anchor and stay for three days in a row, and then I, the aforementioned merchant, should send a message of whether we should go unload at the town of Bermeo or at the town of San Sebastian.

   Synonym: barco

2. barge

   Synonym: barcaza

3. small boat

   Synonyms: batel, bote

Derived terms

• Barca
• barcada (“cargo”)
• barcal (“tray; trough”)
• barcala (“barge”)
• barcaleta (“tray”)
• barcaza (“barge”)
• barco (“ship”)
• Barqueira
• barqueiro (“boat owner”)
• Barqueiros
• barquela (“bowl”)
• barqueta (“barge”)
• Barquiña
• desembarcar (“to disembark”)
• embarcar (“to board”)
• embarque (“shipping”)

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “barca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “barc-” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “barca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “barca”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “barca”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbar.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (una barca):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arka
• Hyphenation: bàr‧ca

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Egyptian bꜣjr

Demotic Egyptian br

Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare)der.

Ancient Greek βᾶρῐς (bârĭs)der.

Latin bāris

Late Latin barca

Italian barca

From Late Latin barca, derived from Latin baris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship”).

Noun

barca f (plural barche)

1. boat

   Synonyms: natante, nave

2. skiff

   Synonyms: imbarcazione, lancia

Derived terms

• barca a motore
• barca a remi
• barca a vela
• barca da pesca
• barcaccia
• barcaiolo
• barcarola
• barchetta
• barchettata
• barchettina
• barchetto
• barchina
• barchino
• barchone
• casa barca
• posto barca
• sulla stessa barca

Related terms

• imbarcare
• sbarcare
• sobbarcare

Descendants

• → Ottoman Turkish: بارچه (barça)

Etymology 2

Probably of pre-Roman origin.

Noun

barca f (uncountable)

1. sheaf
2. (figurative) heaps (a large quantity)

   una barca di guai ― lots of problems

Further reading

• barca¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• barca² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• braca, cabra

Latin

Etymology

Late Latin, first attested in a late 2nd or early 3rd-century inscription in Balsa (ILS 5069). Surfaces again much later in Medieval Latin as barca, by that point a borrowing from Romance.

Regular syncope of Vulgar Latin *bārica, from Latin bāris (“Egyptian shallow wide flat-bottomed river boat”), from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), from Demotic Egyptian br, from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship”),

Noun

barca f (genitive barcae); first declension (Late Latin)

1. baris (a type of flat-bottomed freighter used on the Nile in Ancient Egypt)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	barca	barcae
genitive	barcae	barcārum
dative	barcae	barcīs
accusative	barcam	barcās
ablative	barcā	barcīs
vocative	barca	barcae

Descendants

• Gallo-Italian:
  • Venetan: barca
• Iberian:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: barca
    • Galician: barca
    • Portuguese: barca
  • Spanish: barca
• East Iberian/Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Occitan: barca
    • Catalan: barca
    • Occitan: barca
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Dalmatian: buarca
  • Italian: barca
    • → Hungarian: bárka
    • → Romanian: barcă
    • → Serbo-Croatian: barka
  • Sicilian: varca
• Oïl:
  • Old French: barge
    • Middle French: barge
      • French: barge
        • → Russian: баржа (barža)
    • → Middle English: barge, bargge, baarge, berge, barche
      • English: barge
      • Scots: bairge (possibly)
• Rhaetian:
  • Friulian: barcje
  • Romansh: bartga
• Medieval Latin: barca, barcha, barga
  • → Middle French: barque
    • French: barque
      • → English: barque
        • → Russian: барк (bark)
      • → Faroese: bark
      • → Norwegian: bark
    • → Danish: bark
    • → Irish: bárc
    • → Middle Breton: barc
      • Breton: barc
    • → Middle Dutch: barke
      • Dutch: bark
      • → Middle High German: barke
        • German: Barke
      • → Middle Low German: barke
        • → Russian: барка (barka)
    • → Middle English: barke
      • English: bark
        • → Welsh: barc
• → Byzantine Greek: βάρκα (bárka) (reborrowing)
  • Greek: βάρκα (várka)
    • → Aromanian: varcã

References

• “barca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "barca", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “barca”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “barca”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[3]
• “barca”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “barca”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “barca”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• https://brill.com/abstract/book/edcoll/9789004377530/BP000017.xml

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan barca, from Late Latin barca, probably from Latin baris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably of Egyptian origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbar.kɒ/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

barca f (plural barcas)

1. dinghy, boat

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese barca, from Late Latin barca, probably from Latin baris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably of Egyptian origin.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.kɐ/ [ˈbah.kɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.kɐ/ [ˈbah.kɐ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾ.kɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.kɐ/ [ˈbaχ.kɐ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɻ.kɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.ka/ [ˈbah.ka]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾ.kɐ/

• Hyphenation: bar‧ca

Noun

barca f (plural barcas)

1. boat
2. barge
3. barque
4. (dialectal, Amazonas) everyone; people in general

Derived terms

• barco

Further reading

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

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish barca, from Late Latin barca, probably from Latin baris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), itself probably from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship, type of fish”),

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾka/ [ˈbaɾ.ka]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾka
• Syllabification: bar‧ca

Noun

barca f (plural barcas)

1. a small boat

   Synonyms: barco, nave

Derived terms

• barco
• barquía
• embarcación
• embarcar
• puente de barcas

Further reading

• “barca”, 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

Anagrams

• cabra