cuca

See also: Cuca, cucą, and cûca

English

Noun

cuca (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of coca.

See also

• cuca shop (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• accu

Albanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡sut͡sa/

Noun

cuca

1. inflection of cucë (“girl”):
   1. definite nominative singular
   2. indefinite nominative/accusative plural

Catalan

Etymology

From cuc (“worm”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

cuca f (plural cuques)

1. creepy-crawly

Further reading

• “cuca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “cuca”, 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

Portuguese

FWOTD – 12 January 2013

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈku.kɐ/

• Rhymes: -ukɐ
• Hyphenation: cu‧ca
• Homophone: Cuca

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin.

Noun

cuca f (plural cucas)

1. (familiar) head

   Synonyms: cabeça, (familiar) coco

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Kuchen (“cake”), from Old High German kuohho. Doublet of quiche.

Alternative forms

• cuque

Noun

cuca f (plural cucas)

1. (South Brazil) Streuselkuchen (a cake of German origin made of yeast dough covered with sweet crumb topping)
   • 2005, Carlos Vieira, Armazem Colombo‎, →ISBN, page 82:

     Segundo o autor Alexandre de Freitas, “aparentada do stollen e do panetone, a cuca nada mais é do que um pão doce feito com massa mole e batida, onde são acrescentadas frutas secas ou frescas, no meio ou sobre a massa; […] ”.

     According to author Alexandre de Freitas, “related to stollen and panetone, Streuselkuchen is nothing more than a sweet bread made with soft, beaten dough, to which dry or fresh fruit is added in the middle or on top of; […] ”.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from English cook.

Noun

cuca m (plural cucas)

1. (humorous) a skilled cook or chef

   Synonyms: (any cook) cozinheiro, mestre-cuca

Further reading

• “cuca”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “cuca”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025

Romanian

Noun

cuca

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of cucă

Spanish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuka/ [ˈku.ka]
• Rhymes: -uka
• Syllabification: cu‧ca

Noun

cuca f (plural cucas)

1. chufa, earth almond, Cyperus esculentus

   Synonyms: alcatufa, chufa

2. (entomology) caterpillar

   Synonym: oruga

3. (colloquial) cockroach

   Synonym: cucaracha

4. (colloquial) woman who likes to gamble

   mala cuca ― evil person

5. (colloquial) penis

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pene

6. (Colombia) cookie made of wheat flour and panela
7. (vulgar, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) pussy (vagina)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagina

8. (Spain, colloquial) peseta

   Synonym: peseta

Derived terms

• cucaracha

See also

• Cyperus esculentus on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es

Noun

cuca f (plural cucas, masculine cuco, masculine plural cucos)

1. (colloquial) hag, bogeywoman

Adjective

cuca

1. feminine singular of cuco

Verb

cuca

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

Further reading

• “cuca”, 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