pica

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpaɪkə/^[1]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: pīkə, IPA^(key): /ˈpaɪkə/^[1]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪkə

Borrowed from Latin pīca (“jay; magpie”). Doublet of pie (“magpie”).

• (pathology): From the idea that magpies will eat almost anything.

pica (countable and uncountable, plural picas)

2. (pathology, usually uncountable) A disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances, such as chalk, clay, dirt, ice, or sand.

   Synonyms: allotriophagy, chthonophagia, cittosis, geophagy, (obsolete, rare) pique

   • 1986, George S Baroff, Mental retardation: nature, cause, and management:

     The three most common nonfood picas were eating of strings and rags; feces, vomit, and urine; and paper, cigarettes, and soil.

3. (countable) A magpie.

• pica (disorder) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Medieval Latin pica (“pica: a service book”), possibly from Latin pīca (“magpie”) after the piebald appearance of the typeset page (cf. pie (“disordered type”)). The relation to the printer's measure is unclear, as no edition of the text in pica type is known. The French pica derives from English rather than vice versa.^[1]

pica (countable and uncountable, plural picas)

1. (typography, printing, uncountable) A size of type between small pica and English, now standardized as 12-point.
   • 1790, James Boswell, edited by Danziger & Brady, Boswell: The Great Biographer, Yale, published 1989, page 30:

     I had been at Baldwin's before dinner in consequence of a letter from him which showed me that, by using a pica instead of an English letter in printing my book, I might comprise it within such a number of sheets as a guinea-volume should contain […] .

2. (typography, uncountable, usually with qualifier) A font of this size.
3. (typography, countable) A unit of length equivalent to 12 points, officially ³⁵⁄₈₃ cm (0.166 in) after 1886 but now (computing) ¹⁄₆ in.

   Coordinate terms: cicero, em, en, point

4. (uncommon, ecclesiastical) A pie or directory: the book directing Roman Catholic observance of saints' days and other feasts under various calendars.

• pica (typography) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

pica (plural picas)

1. Archaic form of pika (“small lagomorph”).
   • 1895, Richard Lydekker, The Royal Natural History, volume 3, page 190:

     Most travellers in the Himalaya are familiar with the pretty little Rodents, known as picas, tailless hares, or mouse-hares, which may be seen in the higher regions […]

• ACPI, APIC, apic, capi, paci

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpi.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpi.ka]

From Latin pīla (“mortar”), with an unexplained change from /l/ to /k/. Compare Spanish pila (“sink, font”).

pica f (plural piques)

1. bowl

   pica beneitera ― holy water font

2. sink

   Synonym: lavabo

   • 2006, Sergi Pàmies, “Com dues gotes d'aigua”, in Si menges una llimona sense fer ganyotes [If you eat a lemon without making a face]:

     Quan neix, la gota encara no sap que d'aquí a dos segons s'esclafarà contra la pica de la cuina.

     When it's born, the droplet doesn't yet know that in two seconds it will smash against the kitchen sink.

• de mica en mica s'omple la pica (“every little helps, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, proverb, literally “little by little the sink fills up”)

Borrowed from Spanish pica (“pike”).

pica f (plural piques)

1. (weaponry) pike
2. (card games) spade

Borrowed from Latin pīca (“magpie”).

pica f (uncountable)

1. (pathology) pica (disorder characterized by craving and appetite for non-edible substances)

Deverbal from picar.

pica f (plural piques)

1. peak, summit

   Synonyms: pic, cim, cima

Borrowed from French pika, from an Evenki word.

pica f (plural piques)

1. pika (small, furry mammal)

pica

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

• “pica”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “pica” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

pica m (plural picas)

1. pipit
2. (card games) spade (a playing card of the suit spades, picas)

pica

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpi.ka/
• Rhymes: -ika
• Hyphenation: pì‧ca

pica f (plural piche)

1. magpie
2. picacismo

• capi, capì, paci

From Proto-Italic *peikā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”), whence also Latin pīcus (“woodpecker”).

Romance forms in -e- might reflect a different etymon, such as the Umbrian peico (acc.sg.), where the product of /ei/'s monophthongisation coincided with the latin /ē/. Cognate to Sanskrit पिक (piká, “cuckoo”), German Specht (“woodpecker”), Swedish spett (“crowbar, skewer; kind of woodpecker”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpiː.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpiː.ka]

pīca f (genitive pīcae); first declension

1. magpie

First-declension noun.

• pīcus

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “pīca”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 8: Patavia–Pix, page 420

• “pica”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pica”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "pica", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

From Italian pizza.

• IPA^(key): [ˈpit͡sːa]

pica f (4th declension)

1. pizza

Borrowed from Italian pizza. Compare Latvian pica, Belarusian and Ukrainian пі́ца (píca), Russian пи́цца (pícca).

picà f (plural picos) stress pattern 2

1. pizza

• picerija (“pizzeria”)

• “pica”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2025

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /pʲit͡sʲa/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /pʲit͡sʲa/

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *piťa.

pica f

1. (attested in Greater Poland) fodder, food, nourishment
   • 1890 [End of the 15th century], Bolesław Erzepki, editor, Szczątki dawnej polszczyzny‎^[1], Mogilno, page 182:

     Alimentum piczą vel pocarm

     [Alimentum pica vel pokarm]

2. (attested in Greater Poland) Confusion of Latin armentum (“draft animal”) for Latin alimentum (“food, nourishment”) or Latin frūmentum (“grain”).
   • 1916 [second half of the 15th century], Stanisław Słoński, editor, Psałterz puławski‎^[2], Greater Poland, page Hab 29:

     Nye będze pycze w yaszlyech (non erit armentum in praesaepibus Hab 3, 17)

     [Nie będzie pice w jaślech (non erit armentum in praesaepibus Hab 3, 17)]

3. (attested in Masovia) Type of tribute; free food supply donated to an army.
   • 1863 [1447], Jan Tadeusz Lubomirski, editor, Kodeks dyplomatyczny księstwa mazowieckiego‎^[3], Masovia, page 213:

     Ab eisdem serviciis, videlicet portacione pabulorum al. pycza, a coquina... absoluimus et liberamus

     [Ab eisdem serviciis, videlicet portacione pabulorum al. pica, a coquina... absoluimus et liberamus]

• Polish: (obsolete) pica (“fodder”)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic.

pica f

1. (attested in Lesser Poland) vulva
   • 1874-1891 [1447], Rozprawy i Sprawozdania z Posiedzeń Wydziału Filologicznego Akademii Umiejętności‎^{[4], [5], [6]}, volume XXII, Lublin, page 55:

     Pi[s]cza

     [Pi[s]ca]

• Polish: pica (“cunt”)

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “1. pica”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “2. pica”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /ˈpi.t͡sa/
• Rhymes: -it͡sa
• Syllabification: pi‧ca

Inherited from Old Polish pica (“fodder”).

pica f

1. (obsolete) fodder, forage

   Synonyms: furaż, pasza

Inherited from Old Polish pica (“vulva”).

pica f (diminutive piczka)

1. (vulgar) cunt, pussy (female genitalia)

   Synonyms: cipa, pizda, psiocha

• pica in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• M. Arcta Słownik Staropolski/Pica on the Polish Wikisource.Wikisource ^pl

• Rhymes: -ikɐ
• Hyphenation: pi‧ca

Deverbal from picar.

pica f (plural picas)

1. (Portugal) act of mincing
2. (historical, rare) pike (long spear)

   Synonym: pique

3. (Brazil, colloquial, vulgar) dick; prick; penis

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pénis

4. (Portugal, childish) jab (medical injection)

   Synonym: injeção

5. (Portugal, colloquial) energy; power

   Já estou com a pica toda. ― I'm full of energy.

6. (Portugal, colloquial) enthusiasm, will

   Synonym: pique

   Falta-me pica para continuar o projeto ― I'm lacking enthusiasm to continue with the project.

• picão

pica m (plural picas)

1. (Portugal, informal) ticket inspector

   Synonym: revisor

2. (Portugal, slang) joint (marijuana cigarette)

pica m or f (plural picas)

1. (Southeast Brazil, vulgar) awesome; amazing; cool

• ser pica

Learned borrowing from Latin pīca

pica f (plural picas)

1. (pathology) pica

Borrowed from English pica, ultimately from Latin pīca.

pica f (plural picas)

1. (typography, printing, rare) pica

   Synonym: paica

From pico (“tip”).

pica f (plural picas)

1. (Portugal) dace; chub (fish of the genus Leuciscus)

   Synonyms: escalo, robalinho

2. (Portugal) atherine (fish of the genus Atherina)

   Synonym: peixe-rei

Borrowed from French pika.

pica f (plural picas)

1. pika (mammal of the family Ochotonidae)

Borrowed from English pic.

pica f (plural picas)

1. (Brazil, Internet slang, 4chan slang, humorous) pic (short for picture, meaning image) (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

pica

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

• “pica”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “pica” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “pica”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2025
• “pica”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “pica”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “pica”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “pica”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

From pic, as a word originally in reference to drops of liquid. Compare also Aromanian chicu.

• IPA^(key): /piˈka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: pi‧ca

a pica (third-person singular present pică, past participle picat) 1st conjugation

1. (intransitive) to fall

   Synonym: cădea

2. (intransitive, of systems or connections) to fail, have downtime, be interrupted
3. (transitive) to fail an exam

   Antonyms: promova, (informal) lua

4. (transitive, informal) to fail a student
5. (intransitive, informal, of examination topics) to be drawn from a list and assigned, whether individually or collectively

   În fiecare an, liceenii se întreabă ce le va pica la bacalaureatul de română. Toți speră că va pica un subiect ușor, cum ar fi basmul sau nuvela.

   Each year, high schoolers wonder what they’ll get for the Romanian language baccalaureate. They all hope to get an easy subject, such as the folk tale or the short story.

6. (intransitive) to fall on a date

   Synonym: cădea

7. (intransitive, informal, now uncommon, of people) to come by, appear, show up

   Synonyms: apărea, își face apariția, se ivi

8. (intransitive, informal, of things) to fall into one’s hands, fall into one’s lap [with dative]
9. (transitive, archaic) to have drops of liquid fall on something or someone
10. (transitive, obsolete) to drip a liquid
11. (transitive or reflexive, obsolete or regional) to stain something, respectively oneself
12. (transitive, regional, uncommon) to hit (in aggression, with a blunt object)

While not an absolutely informal word, in cases of synonymy pica still is somewhat informal relative to cădea.

Borrowed from French piquer.

a pica (third-person singular present pichează, past participle picat) 1st conjugation

1. (intransitive, aviation) to dive

• picaj

Borrowed from Latin pīca.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpi.ka/
• Rhymes: -ika
• Hyphenation: pi‧ca

pica f (uncountable)

1. pica

pica

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of pică

• “pica”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025
• Iorgu Iordan, Alexandru Graur, Ion Coteanu, editors (1974), “picá¹”, in Dicționarul Limbii Române‎^[7], volume 8, part 2, Bucharest: Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, pages 527–529
• Iorgu Iordan, Alexandru Graur, Ion Coteanu, editors (1974), “picá²”, in Dicționarul Limbii Române‎^[8], volume 8, part 2, Bucharest: Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, page 529

Hypocoristic form derived from pízda (“cunt”).

• IPA^(key): /pǐːtsa/
• Hyphenation: pi‧ca
• Rhymes: -it͡sa

píca f (Cyrillic spelling пи́ца)

1. (vulgar, hypocoristic) cunt, pussy

Borrowed from Italian pizza.

• IPA^(key): /pîtsa/
• Hyphenation: pi‧ca
• Rhymes: -it͡sa

pȉca f (Cyrillic spelling пи̏ца)

1. pizza

Borrowed from Italian pizza.

• IPA^(key): /pìːt͡sa/, /píːt͡sa/

pīca f

1. pizza

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	píca
gen. sing.	píce
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	píca	píci	píce
genitive (rodȋlnik)	píce	píc	píc
dative (dajȃlnik)	píci	pícama	pícam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	píco	píci	píce
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	píci	pícah	pícah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	píco	pícama	pícami

• “pica”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

• IPA^(key): /ˈpika/ [ˈpi.ka]
• Rhymes: -ika
• Syllabification: pi‧ca

Deverbal from picar.

pica f (plural picas)

1. pike, lance
2. pick (digging tool)
3. (card games) spade (a playing card of the suit spades, picas)

Suits in Spanish · palos (layout · text)
corazones	diamantes	picas	tréboles

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

pica f (countable and uncountable, plural picas)

1. (pathology, usually uncountable) pica (a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances)

pica

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

• “pica”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024