cuña

See also: cuna, Cuna, cùna, cunã, and cüna

Galician

Alternative forms

• cunha (reintegrationist)

Etymology

First attested in the 15th century. Ultimately from Latin cuneus. Cognate with Portuguese cunha and Spanish cuña.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuɲa/ [ˈku.ɲɐ]
• Rhymes: -uɲa
• Hyphenation: cu‧ña

Noun

cuña f (plural cuñas)

1. wedge
   • 1438, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI, Vigo: Galaxia, page 411:

     Et mais que o dito señor obispo e cabíidoo e conçello que dían ao dito Sueyro e a Diego Aafonso pera a dita obra toda a pedra e madeira e crabageen e calabres e petrechos... e meestres e feramentas e cuñas e marras e todas las outras cousas que feser mester et foren necesarias pera se a dita obra faser

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. chock (for wheel)

   Synonym: calzo

3. (figurative) influence; connections

Derived terms

• cuñar
• cuñeira

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cuña”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cuña”, 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), “cuña”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cuña”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuɲa/ [ˈku.ɲa]
• Rhymes: -uɲa
• Syllabification: cu‧ña

Etymology 1

From cuño or from Vulgar Latin *cunea, from Latin cuneus. Compare Portuguese cunha.

Noun

cuña f (plural cuñas)

1. wedge
2. chock (for wheel)
3. (typography) quoin
4. (colloquial) influence, weight, pull
5. (television, radio) slot, spot
6. (anatomy) cuneus (portion of the occipital lobe)
7. (colloquial, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Rep., El Salvador) connections

   Synonyms: enchufe, palanca

8. (journalism, Chile) sound bite

Derived terms

• cuña publicitaria
• precuña

 

Related terms

• acuñar
• cuñado
• cuñar
• cuño

 

Etymology 2

Verb

cuña

1. inflection of cuñar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “cuña”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28