sorta

English

Etymology

A written form of a reduction of sort of.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔːtə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹtə/, [-ɾə]
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tə

Adverb

sorta (not comparable)

1. (informal) Contraction of sort of.

   Synonyms: kinda, kinda sorta, sorta kinda

   The portraits on the wall aren’t that good, but they’re just sorta cool to have around.

   • 1912 September, Charles Alden Seltzer, “Love’s International”, in The Outing Magazine: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, volume LX, number 6, New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.: Outing Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 680, column 1:

     'Webb,' he says sorta sorrowful like, 'it looks like a howlin' shame to have a bang-up American girl hooked up to a money-grubbin' member of the British nobility. It don't in no way fit in with my ideas of the speerut of American independence!'

   • 1993 July, William R. Scott, “Sort of a Hero”, in Scott Stuckey, editor, Boys’ Life, volume LXXXIII, number 7, Irving, Tex.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34, column 2:

     When Tommy's folks heard about it they were angry with him, and with Chuck for using him to play such a mean trick on Vern. In fact the whole thing sorta backfired on old Chuck—and on me and Pete too. Instead of laughing about it, most people thought it was pretty crummy.

Derived terms

• kindasorta
• sortakinda
• sotalol

Translations

contraction of sort of — see sort of

Contraction

sorta (plural sortsa)

1. (informal) Sort of.

   There’s gotta be some sorta explanation.

   • 2001, Lawrence A. Wenzel, The Sandcastle at High Tide, page 97:

     He glanced at her then back at me. "What sorta research?" / "Well, war correspondent might not be too far off," I said.

Anagrams

• Astor, Astro, Roats, Sarot, Troas, artos, astro, astro-, ratos, roast, rotas, taros, tarso-

Czech

Etymology

Derived from French sorte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsorta]
• Hyphenation: sor‧ta
• Rhymes: -orta

Noun

sorta f

1. sort, kind, type

   Synonyms: druh, odrůda

Declension

Declension of sorta (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	sorta	sorty
genitive	sorty	sort
dative	sortě	sortám
accusative	sortu	sorty
vocative	sorto	sorty
locative	sortě	sortách
instrumental	sortou	sortami

Further reading

• “sorta”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “sorta”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “sorta”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɔr̥ta]
• Rhymes: -ɔr̥ta

Noun

sorta f (genitive singular sortu, nominative plural sortur)

1. black dye

Declension

Declension of sorta (feminine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sorta	sortan	sortur	sorturnar
accusative	sortu	sortuna	sortur	sorturnar
dative	sortu	sortunni	sortum	sortunum
genitive	sortu	sortunnar	sorta, sortna	sortanna, sortnanna

Derived terms

• sortulyng (“common bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi”)

Related terms

• sorti (“darkness; dark weather”)
• sortna (“to darken”)
• svartur (“black”)

Italian

Etymology 1

From a Vulgar Latin *sorta, itself from Latin sortem, possibly through French sorte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔr.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔrta
• Hyphenation: sòr‧ta

Noun

sorta f (plural sorte)

1. sort, type, kind

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔr.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔrta
• Hyphenation: sòr‧ta

Verb

sorta

1. inflection of sortire:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsor.ta/, /ˈsɔr.ta/
• Rhymes: -orta, -ɔrta
• Hyphenation: sór‧ta, sòr‧ta

Participle

sorta f sg

1. feminine singular of sorto

Anagrams

• -astro, Tarso, astro, astro-, rosta, sarto, staro, starò, tarso

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German sortieren.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sorˈta/

Verb

a sorta (third-person singular present sortează, past participle sortat) 1st conjugation

1. to sort

Conjugation

    conjugation of sorta (first conjugation, -ez- infix)

infinitive			a sorta
gerund			sortând
past participle			sortat
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	sortez	sortezi	sortează	sortăm	sortați	sortează
	imperfect	sortam	sortai	sorta	sortam	sortați	sortau
	simple perfect	sortai	sortași	sortă	sortarăm	sortarăți	sortară
	pluperfect	sortasem	sortaseși	sortase	sortaserăm	sortaserăți	sortaseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să sortez	să sortezi	să sorteze	să sortăm	să sortați	să sorteze
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		sortează			sortați
	negative		nu sorta			nu sortați

Derived terms

• sortator

Further reading

• “sorta”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Sorte and/or Italian sorta; all eventually from Latin sors. See English sort for more.

Noun

sȏrta f (Cyrillic spelling со̑рта)

1. sort, kind

Declension

Declension of sorta

	singular	plural
nominative	sȏrta	sorte
genitive	sorte	sȏrtā / sȏrtī
dative	sorti	sortama
accusative	sortu	sorte
vocative	sorto	sorte
locative	sorti	sortama
instrumental	sortom	sortama

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *sortadak.

Verb

sorta

1. to bring down, to knock down
2. to cut down, to chop down, to fell
3. to drop (by accident)

Inflection

Inflection of sorta (inflection type 8/püta)
1st infinitive	sorta
present indic.	sordab
past indic.	sordi
	present indicative	past indicative	imperative
1st singular	sordan	sordin	—
2nd singular	sordad	sordid	sorda
3rd singular	sordab	sordi	sorkha
1st plural	sordam	sordim	sorkam
2nd plural	sordat	sordit	sorkat
3rd plural	sortas sordaba	sordiba	sorkha
sing. conneg.1	sorda	sordand	sorda
plur. conneg.	sorkoi	sornugoi	sorkoi
	present conditional	past conditional	potential
1st singular	sordaižin	sornuižin	sornen
2nd singular	sordaižid	sornuižid	sorned
3rd singular	sordaiži	sornuiži	sorneb
1st plural	sordaižim	sornuižim	sornem
2nd plural	sordaižit	sornuižit	sornet
3rd plural	sordaižiba	sornuižiba	sorneba
connegative	sordaiži	sornuiži	sorne
non-finite forms
1st infinitive	sorta
2nd infinitive		3rd infinitive
inessive	sortes	inessive	sormas
instructive	sorten	illative	sormaha
participles		elative	sormaspäi
present active	sordai	adessive	sormal
past active	sornu	abessive	sormat
past passive	sortud
1 In imperative: used only in the second-person singular. The plural form is used with other persons.

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “валить, ронять, сбивать, уронить”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[1], Petrozavodsk: Periodika