abaka

See also: Abaka, abaká, and abaką

English

Noun

abaka (plural abakas)

1. Alternative spelling of abaca.

Translations

plant — see abaca

fiber/fibre — see Manila hemp

Anagrams

• Akaba, Kaaba

Cebuano

Etymology

From Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq, “abaca”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: a‧ba‧ka
• IPA^(key): /ˈʔabaka/ [ˈʔa.bɐ.kɐ]

Noun

ábaka

1. Cebu hemp (Musa textilis); a species of banana tree native to the Philippines
2. the fiber obtained from this plant

References

• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2013), Arabic and Persian Loanwords in Tagalog, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 131

Dibabawon Manobo

Etymology

From Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq, “abaca”).

Noun

abaka

1. Manila hemp; abaca

References

• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2013), Arabic and Persian Loanwords in Tagalog, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 131

Hanunoo

Etymology

Compare Tagalog abaka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔabaˈka/ [ʔa.baˈka]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: a‧ba‧ka

Noun

abaká (Hanunoo spelling ᜠᜪᜣ) (botany)

1. abaca; Manila hemp

Further reading

• Conklin, Harold C. (1953), Hanunóo-English Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics), volume 9, London, England: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 17

Hiligaynon

Etymology

From Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq, “abaca”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔabaˈka/ [ʔa.baˈka]

Noun

abaká

1. Manila hemp, abaca

References

• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2013), Arabic and Persian Loanwords in Tagalog, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 131

Ibanag

Etymology

From Bikol Central abaka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔabaˈka/

Noun

abaka

1. Manila hemp, abaca

Ibatan

Etymology

Cognate with Yami avaka.

Noun

abaka

1. Manila hemp; abaca

Ilocano

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔabaˈka/ [ʔɐ.bɐˈka]
• Hyphenation: a‧ba‧ka

Noun

abaká

1. abaca; Manila hemp

Derived terms

• abakaan
• agabaka

Indonesian

Etymology

Cognate with Malay abaka.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /aˈbaka/ [aˈba.ka]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aka
• Syllabification: a‧ba‧ka

Noun

abaka (plural abaka-abaka)

1. abaca plant

References

• “abaka”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Kapampangan

Etymology

From Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq, “abaca”).

Noun

abaka

1. abaca

References

• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2013), Arabic and Persian Loanwords in Tagalog, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 131

Latvian

Noun

abaka m

1. genitive singular of abaks

Malay

Etymology

From either Philippine Spanish abacá or Tagalog abaka or directly from Arabic الْأَبَقَ (al-ʔabaqa, “the abaca”), the accusative definite inflection of Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq, “abaca”).

Pronunciation

• (schwa-variety) IPA^(key): /aˈbakə/ [aˈba.kə]

  • Audio (Malaysia):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -akə
• (Baku) IPA^(key): /aˈbaka/ [aˈba.ka]

  • Audio (Malaysia):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -aka
• Hyphenation: a‧ba‧ka

Noun

abaka (Jawi spelling اباک, plural abaka-abaka or abaka²)

1. abaca (plant)

   Synonyms: pisang benang, pisang manila, pisang tali

Further reading

• "abaka" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

abaka

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈba.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aka
• Syllabification: a‧ba‧ka

Noun

abaka f

1. abaca, Manila hemp (fibre of the abaca)

   Synonym: manila

Declension

Declension of abaka

	singular	plural
nominative	abaka	abaki
genitive	abaki	abak
dative	abace	abakom
accusative	abakę	abaki
instrumental	abaką	abakami
locative	abace	abakach
vocative	abako	abaki

Further reading

• abaka in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• abaka in PWN's encyclopedia

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈabaka]

Noun

abaka f (genitive singular abaky, declension pattern of žena)

1. Manila hemp

References

• “abaka”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Tagalog

Etymology

Possibly from the following:

• According to Potet (2013), borrowed from Arabic الْأَبَقَ (al-ʔabaqa, “the abaca”), the accusative definite inflection of Arabic أَبَق (ʔabaq, “abaca”), from Classical Syriac ܐܳܦܰܩܬܳܐ (ʾāpaqtā), ܐܰܦܩܰܥܬܳܐ (ʾap̄qaʿtā, “de-seeded cotton”). He added that Muslim marine merchants imposed their term on Philippine suppliers so that the native terms died out in the Philippines.
• According to Blust, Robert & Trussel (2023), inherited from Proto-Philippine *abaká (“Manila hemp: Musa textilis”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔabaˈka/ [ʔɐ.bɐˈxa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: a‧ba‧ka

Noun

abaká (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜊᜃ)

1. Manila hemp; abaca

   Synonyms: ibilaw, (obsolete) labayo

   Si Pedro ay gumamit ng abaka sa pagtali ng kahoy.

   Pedro used abaca to tie the wood together.

Descendants

• →? Malay: abaka
• → Spanish: abacá
  • → Aragonese: abacá
  • → Catalan: abacà
  • → Chamorro: åbaka
  • → English: abaca
    • → Norwegian Bokmål: abaca
  • → French: abaca
  • → Galician: abacá
  • → Italian: abacà
  • →? Malay: abaka
  • → Portuguese: abacá

See also

• sinamay

References

• “abaka”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “abaka”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018.
• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2013), Arabic and Persian Loanwords in Tagalog, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 131
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*abaká”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Anagrams

• Kaaba