palla

Borrowed from Italian palla (“ball”). Doublet of ball.

palla (uncountable)

1. A traditional Tuscan ball game played in the street.

Learned borrowing from Latin palla. Doublet of pall.

palla (plural pallae)

1. (historical) A rectangular piece of cloth worn by ladies in Ancient Rome and fastened with brooches.

• Palla on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

palla

1. inflection of pallë:
   1. definite nominative singular
   2. indefinite nominative/accusative plural

palla

1. woman

Inherited from Old Catalan palla, from Latin palea, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“flour, dust”). Compare Occitan palha, French paille, Italian paglia, Sicilian pagghia, Spanish paja.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpa.ʎə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpa.ʎa]

• Audio:

  (file)

palla f (plural palles)

1. straw, hay
2. drinking straw

   Synonym: canya

3. (of gems, metal) flaw
4. (of writing) padding

• “palla”, 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
• “palla”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “palla” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “palla” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• palha (reintegrationist)

From Old Galician-Portuguese palha (Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin palea. Cognate with Portuguese palha, Asturian paya and Spanish paja.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpaʎa̝/

palla f (plural pallas)

1. (countable) a straw
2. (uncountable) straw
   • 1409, José Luis Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 61:

     Jtem. deue o potro comer feo, palla, herua, orio, auea, espelqa, que quer dizer melga, et as qousas semellauelles a esto, que naturalmente som para seu comer.

     Item. The foal must eat hay, straw, grass, barley, oat, spelt —that is, melga— and things that are similar to these, which are naturally for them to eat

   • 1439, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI, Vigo: Galaxia, page 418:

     e da cárrega de palla, un diñeiro e do carro da casqa, duas brancas

     for a load of hay, [they shall pay] a diñeiro, and by a cartload of bark, two brancas

3. (uncountable) chaff
   • 1276, M. Lucas Álvarez, P. Lucas Dominguez, editors, El monasterio de San Clodio do Ribeiro en la Edad Media: estudio y documentos, Sada / A Coruña: Edicións do Castro, page 375:

     et este pan deue a seer qual o Deus der no logar et seer linpo de palla et de poo, d'eruellada et de mosceyra, et deue a seer ben seco et ben linpo et bõõ pan

     and this grain must be that that God gives at that place, and it must be clean of chaff and dust, of vetch and fodder, and it must be well dry and well clean and good grain

4. (informal, vulgar) a wank

• espallar
• palla perra
• palleiro
• palloza
• un palleiro non se fai sen palla

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “palla”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “palla”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “palla”, 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), “palla”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “palla”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
• “palla”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

• IPA^(key): /ˈpalla/
• Rhymes: -la, -a
• Hyphenation: pal‧la

palla (plural palla-palla)

1. (Catholicism) alternative spelling of pala

• IPA^(key): /ˈpal.la/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alla
• Hyphenation: pàl‧la

From Medieval Latin balla, palla, bala, from Frankish *ballu, from Proto-Germanic *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“bubble”), from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”). Alternatively, via Lombardic *palla, from Proto-Germanic *ballô, from the same ultimate origin. Compare Sicilian baḍḍa.

palla f (plural palle)

1. (sports) ball (object used for playing games)
2. ball (solid or hollow sphere)
3. (historical, firearms) bullet, shot

   Hypernym: proiettile

4. (usually in the plural, vulgar) testicles

   Synonyms: (vulgar) coglione, testicolo

5. (informal, figurative) something dull or boring

   Che palle!

   What a drag!

6. (colloquial) lie

   Synonym: bugia

7. (heraldry) circle-shaped charge

• pallone

Borrowed from Latin palla, of uncertain origin.

palla f (plural palle)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) palla (cloth worn by ladies)

• pallio

Perhaps an extension in sense of the above lemma.

palla f (plural palle)

1. (Catholicism) a cloth used to cover a chalice during services

• palla¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• palla² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• palla³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

From Proto-Italic *palasā, from Proto-Indo-European *pĺ̥h₂seh₂, cognate to Hittite 𒉺𒆷𒄴𒊭𒀸 (pa-la-aḫ-ša-aš, “female garment”). This etymology was originally proposed by Stefan Höfler^[1] and is accepted as convincing by Blanca María Prósper.^[2]

No etymology is decided on by De Vaan, who floats possibilities like Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; skin, hide; cloth”) (akin to pellis (“hide, pelt”)), or possibly a substrate loan.^[3][4]

palla f (genitive pallae); first declension

1. A rectangular piece of cloth worn by ladies in Ancient Rome and fastened with brooches.

First-declension noun.

• pallium

• → English: palla (learned)
• → Italian: palla (learned)
  • → Indonesian: palla
  • → Maltese: palla
• → Romanian: pală (learned)
• → Proto-Brythonic: *pall
  • Middle Welsh: pall
    • Welsh: pall

• “palla”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “palla”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "palla", 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)
• “palla”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “palla”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

From Italian palla, from Latin palla.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpal.la/

palla f (plural palel)

1. (Christianity) pallium

• palle (e-infinitive)

Related to Traveller Norwegian palla and Swedish palla, both with the same meaning.

palla (present tense pallar, past tense palla, past participle palla, passive infinitive pallast, present participle pallande, imperative palla/pall)

1. (slang) to bother to; to have the energy to, to feel up to

   Eg pallar tji gjøra det i dag for faen

   I don't feel up to do it today for fuck's sake

• gidde
• orke

palla

1. lady, respected woman
2. female dancer

From Latin palea.

palla f

1. (Campidanese) straw

• padda

From Italian palla (“ball”), see above.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpalːa/
• Hyphenation: pal‧la

palla f (plural palli)

1. ball

palla

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

• pallra

Derived from Swedish criminal cant pall (“apple”). Attested since 1898.

palla (present pallar, preterite pallade, supine pallat, imperative palla)

1. (colloquial) To scrump; to steal fruit, especially apples, from a garden or orchard.

   Synonyms: stjäla (“steal”), knycka (“nick”)

   Ska vi gå och palla från grannen?

   Shall we go scrumping from the neighbor?

2. (colloquial, prepositioned with "vidare") carry on (continue onward)

   Jag ska palla vidare, vi ses!

   I'm gonna be on my way now, see ya!

3. (colloquial) go (to something)

   Han skulle palla iväg till affären.

   He was going to the store.

   Jag får palla dit och hänga på låset.

   I'll have to go over and wait til they open.

Affix of pall +‎ -ar, from stå pall (“stand firm”). Borrowed from Dutch pal staan, from Low German pall staan.

Interjection sense possibly an ellipsis of the negative pallar inte ("do not have energy/stamina/will").

palla (present pallar, preterite pallade, supine pallat, imperative palla)

1. (colloquial) To have enough strength, will, or stamina for something. [since 1912]

   Synonyms: (dialectal) gitta, idas, orka, (archaic) tya

   Pallar du en runda till?

   Do you have strength/energy for another round?

2. (by extension) cope

   Jag pallar inte längre.

   I can't cope any longer.

• palla tji

palla

1. (colloquial, can be seen as rude) to not have enough strength, will or stamina; to not be bothered to

   – Ska vi gå på bio?
   – Palla!

   – Shall we go and watch a movie?
   – I don't have enough energy! / – I can't be bothered to!

• palla in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• palla in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pall in Svensk ordbok (SO)