picaj

Romanian

Etymology

From pica (“to dive”) +‎ -aj. Seemingly a pseudo-Gallicism, since French piquage (“pricking, stitching”) is semantically unrelated, while piqué (“dive”) is used.

Noun

picaj n (plural picaje)

1. (aviation) dive
2. (figurative) freefall (severe, uncontrolled decline)

   Synonym: cădere liberă

   în picaj ― in freefall

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	picaj	picajul		picaje	picajele
genitive-dative	picaj	picajului		picaje	picajelor
vocative	picajule			picajelor

Further reading

• “picaj”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025