Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛskə/Category:English 2-syllable words#ESCACategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA

Etymology 1

From LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#ESCA ēsca (“bait”).

Etymology 2

From GalicianCategory:English terms borrowed from Galician#ESCACategory:English terms derived from Galician#ESCA escá, from Hispanic Late LatinCategory:English terms derived from Late Latin#ESCA scala (“bowl”) attested in Isidore of Seville, probably from SuevicCategory:English terms derived from Suevic#ESCA, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#ESCA *skēlō (“bowl”). Cognate with German Schale and Dutch schaal.

Anagrams

• ACEs, ASCE, Aces, CASE, Case, Ceas, SCEA, aces, aesc, case, æsc

Alternative forms

• yesca

Etymology

From LatinCategory:Asturian terms inherited from Latin#ESCACategory:Asturian terms derived from Latin#ESCA ēsca.

Noun

esca f (plural esques)Category:Asturian lemmas#ESCACategory:Asturian nouns#ESCACategory:Asturian entries with incorrect language header#ESCACategory:Asturian feminine nouns#ESCACategory:Pages with entries#ESCACategory:Pages with 7 entries#ESCA

1. tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈɛs.kə]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈəs.kə]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈes.ka]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

  Category:Catalan terms with audio pronunciation#ESCA

Etymology 1

Inherited from LatinCategory:Catalan terms inherited from Latin#ESCACategory:Catalan terms derived from Latin#ESCA ēsca.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• isca

Etymology

Circa 1300. From Old Galician-PortugueseCategory:Galician terms inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese#ESCACategory:Galician terms derived from Old Galician-Portuguese#ESCA, from LatinCategory:Galician terms inherited from Latin#ESCACategory:Galician terms derived from Latin#ESCA ēsca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeska̝/Category:Galician terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA

Noun

esca f (plural escas)Category:Galician lemmas#ESCACategory:Galician nouns#ESCACategory:Galician countable nouns#ESCACategory:Galician entries with incorrect language header#ESCACategory:Galician feminine nouns#ESCACategory:Pages with entries#ESCACategory:Pages with 7 entries#ESCA

1. tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)
   • c. 1300, R. Martínez López, General Estoria. Versión gallega del siglo XIV, Oviedo: Publicacións de Archivum, page 220:

     y achou cõ aquel arco hum estormento, et seu esqueyro, et sua ysca, et seu pedernal em el

     there he found, together with that bow, a tinderbox, with its lighter, its tinder, and its flint inside it

     Category:Galician terms with quotations#ESCA

2. bait

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “ysca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “esca”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “esca”, 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), “esca”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “esca”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Etymology 1

From LatinCategory:Italian terms inherited from Latin#ESCACategory:Italian terms derived from Latin#ESCA ēsca.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Anagrams

• asce, case, seca

Alternative forms

• isca (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Proto-ItalicCategory:Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic#ESCACategory:Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic#ESCA *ēsskā, Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:Latin terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#ESCACategory:Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#ESCA *h₁ēd-s-keh₂, from *h₁ed- (“eat”), the root of edō (“eat”).^[1] Judging by Lithuanian ėskà (“food, fodder”), the long vowel is of PIE origin, but despite this often cited as an example of Lachmann's lengthening.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈeːs.ka]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#ESCACategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɛs.ka]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#ESCACategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA

Noun

ēsca f (genitive ēscae)Category:Latin lemmas#ESCACategory:Latin nouns#ESCACategory:Latin first declension nouns#ESCACategory:Latin feminine nouns in the first declension#ESCACategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#ESCACategory:Latin feminine nouns#ESCACategory:Pages with entries#ESCACategory:Pages with 7 entries#ESCA; first declension

1. (collectiveCategory:Latin collective nouns#ESCA) food

   Synonyms: cibus, alimentum, vīctus, cibāria

   1. an individual serving, a dish

      Synonyms: ferculum, epulum

2. (collectiveCategory:Latin collective nouns#ESCA) fodder

   Synonym: pābulum

   1. (collectiveCategory:Latin collective nouns#ESCA) bait
3. (collectiveCategory:Latin collective nouns#ESCA) fuel, especially firewood

   Synonyms: māteria, nūtrīmentum

   1. (collectiveCategory:Latin collective nouns#ESCA) kindling, tinder

      Synonyms: fōmentum, nūtrīmentum

References

Further reading

• “esca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “esca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "esca", 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)
• “esca”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “ēsca” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Spanish terms borrowed from Latin#ESCACategory:Spanish terms derived from Latin#ESCA ēsca.^[1] Compare the inherited doublet yescaCategory:Spanish doublets#ESCA.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeska/ [ˈes.ka]Category:Spanish 2-syllable words#ESCACategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#ESCA
• Rhymes: -eskaCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/eska#ESCACategory:Rhymes:Spanish/eska/2 syllables#ESCA
• Syllabification: es‧ca

Noun

esca f (plural escas)Category:Spanish lemmas#ESCACategory:Spanish nouns#ESCACategory:Spanish countable nouns#ESCACategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#ESCACategory:Spanish feminine nouns#ESCACategory:Pages with entries#ESCACategory:Pages with 7 entries#ESCA

1. (datedCategory:Spanish dated terms#ESCA) bait (substance used in catching fish)

   Synonym: cebo

References

Further reading

• “esca”, 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