acicate

Portuguese

Etymology 1

From Arabic السِّقَاط (as-siqāṭ).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.siˈka.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.siˈka.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.siˈka.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐ.siˈka.tɨ/

Noun

acicate m (plural acicates)

1. spur (implement for prodding a horse)

   Synonym: espora

2. (figuratively) incentive, spur (anything that inspires or motivates)

   Synonym: incentivo

Derived terms

• acicatar

Further reading

• “acicate”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Etymology 2

Verb

acicate

1. inflection of acicatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “acicate”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Andalusian Arabic السِّقَاط (as-siqáṭ). Compare Portuguese acicate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aθiˈkate/ [a.θiˈka.t̪e] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /asiˈkate/ [a.siˈka.t̪e] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: a‧ci‧ca‧te

Noun

acicate m (plural acicates)

1. spur (implement for prodding a horse)

   Synonym: espuela

2. (figuratively) incentive, spur (anything that inspires or motivates)

   Synonym: incentivo

   • 1997, Roberto Bolaño, “Henri Simon Leprince”, in Llamadas telefónicas [Last Evenings on Earth]:

     Su presencia, su fragilidad, su espantosa soberanía, a algunos les sirve de acicate o de recordatorio.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• acicatear

Further reading

• “acicate”, 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