cebar

Catalan

Etymology

From ceba +‎ -ar.

Noun

cebar m (plural cebars)

1. onion field

   Synonym: ceballar

Further reading

• “cebar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

Galician

Alternative forms

• cevar (reintegrationist)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin cibāre. Cognate with Portuguese cevar and Spanish cebar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [θeˈbaɾ], (western) [seˈbaɾ]

Verb

cebar (first-person singular present cebo, first-person singular preterite cebei, past participle cebado)

1. (transitive) to fatten
2. (transitive) to feed, fodder
3. (pronominal) to feed
   • 1295, R. Lorenzo, editor, La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla, Ourense: I.E.O.P.F., page 142:

     o conde foy logo ferir enos mouros muy de rigeo, assy com̃o a aguia famienta ena caça quando sse quer çeuar

     the count then went to clash stoutly with the Moors, as the hungry eagle wants to feed when chasing

4. (transitive) to fertilize
5. (transitive) to bait

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cebar

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti)	Third-person (el / ela / Vde.)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / Vdes.)
Infinitive
Impersonal	cebar
Personal	cebar	cebares	cebar	cebarmos	cebardes	cebaren
Gerund
	cebando
Past participle
Masculine	cebado			cebados
Feminine	cebada			cebadas
Indicative
Present	cebo	cebas	ceba	cebamos	cebades	ceban
Imperfect	cebaba	cebabas	cebaba	cebabamos	cebabades	cebaban
Preterite	cebei	cebaches	cebou	cebamos	cebastes	cebaron
Pluperfect	cebara	cebaras	cebara	cebaramos	cebarades	cebaran
Future	cebarei	cebarás	cebará	cebaremos	cebaredes	cebarán
Conditional	cebaría	cebarías	cebaría	cebariamos	cebariades	cebarían
Subjunctive
Present	cebe	cebes	cebe	cebemos	cebedes	ceben
Imperfect	cebase	cebases	cebase	cebásemos	cebásedes	cebasen
Future	cebar	cebares	cebar	cebarmos	cebardes	cebaren
Imperative
Affirmative		ceba	cebe	cebemos	cebade	ceben
Negative (non)		non cebes	non cebe	non cebemos	non cebedes	non ceben

Derived terms

• ceba
• cebado

Related terms

• cebada
• cebeira

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “çevar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “ceva”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cebar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “cebar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cebar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cebar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cibāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeˈbaɾ/ [θeˈβ̞aɾ] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /seˈbaɾ/ [seˈβ̞aɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Argentina):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ce‧bar

Verb

cebar (first-person singular present cebo, first-person singular preterite cebé, past participle cebado)

1. to bait
2. to fatten, feed

   Synonyms: engordar, alimentar, fomentar

3. to charge, load

   Synonym: rellenar

   cebar los cañones ― ready the cannons

4. (reflexive) to turn on, vent, attack

   Synonyms: ensañar, encarnizar

   El racista se ceba con los pobres. ― The racist takes his anger out on the poor.

   • 2020 July 16, “¿De verdad las películas de Clint Eastwood son una ofensa moral para las mujeres?”, in El País‎:

     He recordado la anécdota a propósito del último estreno de Clint Eastwood, Mula, y de cierta crítica ideológica y de género que suele cebarse con el cineasta de 88 años, declarado votante de Trump.

     I remembered the anecdote about the latest release from Clint Eastwood, Mula, and about certain ideological and gendered criticisms that the 88-year-old filmmaker, a professed Trump voter, is often attacked with.

5. to add hot water to the yerba mate

   cebar el mate ― prepare maté

6. to prime (fill with priming liquid)

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cebar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			cebar
gerund			cebando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		cebado		cebada
		plural		cebados		cebadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	cebo	cebastú cebásvos	ceba	cebamos	cebáis	ceban
	imperfect	cebaba	cebabas	cebaba	cebábamos	cebabais	cebaban
	preterite	cebé	cebaste	cebó	cebamos	cebasteis	cebaron
	future	cebaré	cebarás	cebará	cebaremos	cebaréis	cebarán
	conditional	cebaría	cebarías	cebaría	cebaríamos	cebaríais	cebarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	cebe	cebestú cebésvos2	cebe	cebemos	cebéis	ceben
	imperfect (ra)	cebara	cebaras	cebara	cebáramos	cebarais	cebaran
	imperfect (se)	cebase	cebases	cebase	cebásemos	cebaseis	cebasen
	future1	cebare	cebares	cebare	cebáremos	cebareis	cebaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		cebatú cebávos	cebe	cebemos	cebad	ceben
	negative		no cebes	no cebe	no cebemos	no cebéis	no ceben

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of cebar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive cebar	dative	cebarme	cebarte	cebarle, cebarse	cebarnos	cebaros	cebarles, cebarse
	accusative	cebarme	cebarte	cebarlo, cebarla, cebarse	cebarnos	cebaros	cebarlos, cebarlas, cebarse
with gerund cebando	dative	cebándome	cebándote	cebándole, cebándose	cebándonos	cebándoos	cebándoles, cebándose
	accusative	cebándome	cebándote	cebándolo, cebándola, cebándose	cebándonos	cebándoos	cebándolos, cebándolas, cebándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative ceba	dative	cébame	cébate	cébale	cébanos	not used	cébales
	accusative	cébame	cébate	cébalo, cébala	cébanos	not used	cébalos, cébalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative cebá	dative	cebame	cebate	cebale	cebanos	not used	cebales
	accusative	cebame	cebate	cebalo, cebala	cebanos	not used	cebalos, cebalas
with formal second-person singular imperative cebe	dative	cébeme	not used	cébele, cébese	cébenos	not used	cébeles
	accusative	cébeme	not used	cébelo, cébela, cébese	cébenos	not used	cébelos, cébelas
with first-person plural imperative cebemos	dative	not used	cebémoste	cebémosle	cebémonos	cebémoos	cebémosles
	accusative	not used	cebémoste	cebémoslo, cebémosla	cebémonos	cebémoos	cebémoslos, cebémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative cebad	dative	cebadme	not used	cebadle	cebadnos	cebaos	cebadles
	accusative	cebadme	not used	cebadlo, cebadla	cebadnos	cebaos	cebadlos, cebadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative ceben	dative	cébenme	not used	cébenle	cébennos	not used	cébenles, cébense
	accusative	cébenme	not used	cébenlo, cébenla	cébennos	not used	cébenlos, cébenlas, cébense

Related terms

• cebada
• cebador
• cebo

Further reading

• “cebar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025