teca

Probably deverbal from encatacar-se (“to eat”), in turn a cross between atacar-se (“to attack”), encarcanyar-se, and Old Catalan entecar-se (“to be contagious”), alteration of *eticar-se, from ètic (“phthisic, tuberculosis”).^[1]

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

teca f (plural teques)

1. (colloquial) food

Probably borrowed from Spanish teca; in turn from Portuguese teca, from Malayalam തേക്ക് (tēkkŭ).

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈte.ka]

teca f (plural teques)

1. (botany) teak

Borrowed from Latin thēca (“case, envelope, sheath”), from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē).

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

teca f (plural teques)

1. (biology) theca

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

From Proto-Nahuan *teeka.

• IPA^(key): /teːka/

tēca

1. (transitive) To lay (something) down; spread (something) out on a flat surface.
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 199r:

     Poner coſas largas tendidas. nic,teca.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (reflexive) To lie down.
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 6r:

     Acoſtarme o echarme, nino,teca.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • ibid., f. 90v.

     Echarſe como en cama. nino,teca.

3. (transitive, of a man) To have sex with.
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 137v:

     Hazerlo hõbre ala muger. nite,teca.nite,y ecoa.tetechn,aci.niccui. uiccuicui. [sic]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (transitive) To pour.

• (sex) yecoa, tetech ahci, cui, cuicui

• Andrews, J. Richard (2003) Workbook for Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, rev. ed. edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 250
• Karttunen, Frances (1983) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, Austin: University of Texas Press, page 215
• Lockhart, James (2001) Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts, Stanford: Stanford University Press, page 232

Borrowed from Latin theca (16th century),^[1] from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē). Doublet of the inherited tega.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɛka
• Hyphenation: tè‧ca

teca f (plural teche)

1. a small reliquary

• tace

• Rhymes: -ɛkɐ
• Hyphenation: te‧ca

Borrowed from Malayalam തേക്ക് (tēkkŭ) / Tamil தேக்கு (tēkku).

teca f (plural tecas)

1. teak (Tectona grandis)

• → Dutch: teak
• → English: teak
  • → Finnish: teak, tiikki
  • → Telugu: టేకు (ṭēku)
• → Spanish: teca, teka (obsolete)
  • → Catalan: teca

Learned borrowing from Latin thēca, from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē).

teca f (plural tecas)

1. (anatomy) theca (covering or membrane, usually of a fibrous nature, that surrounds certain organs)
2. (botany) theca (each of the dilated parts of an anther within which are the pollen sacs)
3. quantity of fish belonging to each of the fishermen, in a haul (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
4. (informal) money

   Synonym: dinheiro

5. (Brazil, Roman Catholicism) pyx (small container used to carry viaticum to the sick)

   Synonym: caixa-cibório

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

teca f (Cyrillic spelling теца)

1. (Kajkavian) aunt

   Synonym: teta

• IPA^(key): /ˈteka/ [ˈt̪e.ka]
• Rhymes: -eka
• Syllabification: te‧ca

Borrowed from Portuguese teca.

teca f (plural tecas)

1. teak

• teka (obsolete)

From Latin thēca.

teca f (plural tecas)

1. (biology) theca

• “teca”, 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

teg +‎ -a

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛka/

teca

1. (colloquial) informal form of tecaf (“fairest”)