loa

• lwa

From Haitian Creole lwa.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊə/
• Rhymes: -əʊə

loa (plural loas or loa)

1. In the voodoo religion, a spirit intermediary between Bondye (the creator god) and human beings.
   • 1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 36:

     Here, on the Island Below the Sea, the loa have their permanent residence, their primal location.

   • 2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 3:

     Some will caution you at great length about the dangers of Vodou. They will tell you that the lwa are jealous, thin-skinned, and hot-tempered.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 714:

     Equally surprising is to find St Patrick so prominent in many Vodou shrines, until one remembers that he too had been a slave who had twice crossed the sea, the second time to freedom, and that he had particular power over snakes, like the loa (Haitian equivalent of orisha) Dambala Wèdo.

• -ola, AOL, Lao, OAL, Ola, ola

loa

1. genitive singular of luba

loa

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

From Proto-Polynesian *loa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlo.a/, [ˈlo.wə]

loa

1. distance, length

loa

1. (stative) long, permanent

• Hōkūloa (literally “long star”)
• Mauna Loa (literally “long mountain”)
• hikiāloa (literally “to reach a long way”)

Borrowed from translingual Loa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔ.a/
• Rhymes: -ɔa
• Hyphenation: lò‧a

loa f (plural loe)

1. any nematod of the Loa taxonomic genus

• loa in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• Lao, alo, alo-, alò, olà

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luaq (compare Malay luak).

• IPA^(key): [ˈlu.a]

loa

1. to vomit
2. to pay
3. to discharge

loa (present tense loar, past tense loa, past participle loa, passive infinitive loast, present participle loande, imperative loa/lo)

1. alternative spelling of loe

loa f

1. definite singular of lo

• lôa (obsolete)

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese loa, deverbal from loar.

• Hyphenation: lo‧a

loa f (plural loas)

1. a speech of commendation; praise
2. a song paying respect to saints; a carol (religious Christmastime song)

   uma loa de Natal ― a Christmas carol

• “loa”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “loa”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “loa”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2025
• “loa”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “loa”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025

• IPA^(key): /ˈloa/ [ˈlo.a]
• Rhymes: -oa
• Syllabification: lo‧a

Deverbal from loar.

loa f (plural loas)

1. praise

   Synonyms: alabanza, halago, elogio, enaltecimiento

   • 2022 August 23, Javier G. Cuesta, “Rusia convierte el funeral de Daria Dugina en un alegato para justificar el asedio a Ucrania”, in El País‎^[1]:

     La última despedida de Daria Dugina, asesinada la noche del pasado sábado en plena carretera en las afueras de Moscú con una bomba adosada a su coche, se ha convertido este martes en una loa a favor de la victoria rusa sobre Ucrania.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

loa

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

• “loa”, 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

• lowa, luwa

Borrowed from Spanish loa.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈloa/ [ˈloː.ɐ]
• Rhymes: -oa
• Syllabification: lo‧a

loa (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜓᜏ) (ecclesiastical, poetry)

1. poetic panegyric of eulogy (usually in praise of the Virgin Mary and the saints)

• alo, ola, Lao

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔ.a/

lôa (perfect loile)

1. to bewitch

• moloi

Sino-Vietnamese word from 螺 (“spiral shell”).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [lwaː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [lwaː˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [l⁽ʷ⁾aː˧˧]

(classifier cái) loa

1. megaphone (portable device used to amplify a person's voice)
2. (by extension) speaker; loudspeaker

• lao