pelota

English

Etymology

From Spanish pelota (“ball”). Doublet of pellet.

Noun

pelota (uncountable)

1. Any of a variety of Spanish sports played against a wall.

Derived terms

• Basque pelota

See also

• pilota

Anagrams

• alepot, patole, pot ale, potale

Esperanto

Adjective

pelota (accusative singular pelotan, plural pelotaj, accusative plural pelotajn)

1. singular future passive participle of peli

Finnish

Verb

pelota

1. inflection of pelottaa:
   1. present active indicative connegative
   2. second-person singular present imperative
   3. second-person singular present active imperative connegative

Anagrams

• lopeta, oletpa, peltoa

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

pelota

1. third-person singular past historic of peloter

Galician

Como jogavã a pelota os mancebos ("how the young men were playing with the ball"), 13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria

Etymology

From Old Occitan pelota or Old French pelote, from Latin pila (“ball”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈlɔta̝/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pelota f (plural pelotas)

1. ball

   Synonyms: balón, bóla

   • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana. Introducción e texto, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 440:

     tijña ẽna mão hũa pelota pequena, et asynaua pera a deytar á agia, et ela fogía et voaua ata que a pelota passaua per ela

     he hold in his hand a small ball, and he was making signals to throw it to the eagle, and the eagle fled and flew until the ball passed by

2. butter pellet
3. an abnormal growth in the legs of the cattle
4. (figurative, vulgar, usually in the plural) testicle

References

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

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Occitan pelota (possibly via Spanish pelota), from Old French pelote, from Latin pila (“ball”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /peˈlɔ.tɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /peˈlɔ.tɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /peˈlɔ.ta/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨˈlɔ.tɐ/

• Hyphenation: pe‧lo‧ta

Noun

pelota f (plural pelotas)

1. a small ball or sphere

   Synonym: bola

Derived terms

• em pelota

Spanish

Etymology

Via Old French and Occitan from Latin pila.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈlota/ [peˈlo.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -ota
• Syllabification: pe‧lo‧ta

Noun

pelota f (plural pelotas)

1. (sports) ball (a round or ellipsoidal object)

   Synonym: balón

   jugar a (lanzar) la pelota ― to go fetch

2. (sports) ball game
3. (figurative, vulgar, usually in the plural) testicle

Hyponyms

• pelota antiestrés (“stress ball”)
• pelota de fútbol
• pelota de fútbol americano
• pelota de golf
• pelota de tenis
• pelota de viento

 

Derived terms

• apelotar
• en pelotas
• estar hasta las pelotas
• hacer la pelota
• hecho pelota
• hinchapelotas
• juego de pelota
• la pelota está en el tejado
• la pelota está en el tejado de alguien
• pelota de playa
• pelota paleta
• pelota vasca
• pelotear
• poner la pelota en juego
• recogepelotas
• tocapelotas
• tocar las pelotas

 

Noun

pelota m or f by sense (plural pelotas)

1. people pleaser, toady

   Synonyms: (Spain) palmero, lameculos, lambeculos, (vulgar, derogatory) lambeculo

Further reading

• “pelota”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014