va

See also: Appendix:Variations of "va"

Languages (39)

Albanian • Aragonese • Breton • Catalan • Cornish • Fijian • French • Galician • Gokana • Hlai • Interlingua • Italian • Japanese • Lala (South Africa) • Ligurian • Lithuanian • Louisiana Creole • Manx • Maricopa • Matal • Mòcheno • Neapolitan • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Czech • Pali • Phuthi • Romanian • Spanish • Swazi • Swedish • Talysh • Uzbek • Venetan • Vietnamese • Xhosa • Zazaki • Zhuang • Zou

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Page categories

Albanian

Etymology

Either from Proto-Albanian *wa(d), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to go, walk”), or from Latin vadum; impossible to determine. Possibly forms a doublet of vete.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [va]

Noun

va m (plural va, definite vau, definite plural vatë)

1. ford
2. (regional) forest passageway
3. (figurative) way out

Derived terms

• vator

Aragonese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin vādit, third person singular present active indicative of vādō.

Verb

va

1. third-person singular present indicative of ir/anar
2. (auxiliary, with infinitive) third-person singular present indicative of ir/anar

Interjection

va

1. now, let's go (as an incitement to action or to a decision)

   Synonyms: au, aire

2. aha (An Expression of incredulity or doubt)

   Synonyms: au-va, araba, ah, au

3. please (When asking for something in a familiar tone)

   Synonyms: per favor, au va

Breton

Pronoun

va (requires spirant mutation)

1. my

   Va zad ― My father

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈba]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈva]
• Rhymes: -a

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan va, inherited from Latin vānus.

Adjective

va (feminine vana, masculine plural vans, feminine plural vanes)

1. vain (having no real substance)
2. vain (effecting no real purpose)

Derived terms

• en va
• envanir
• vanament

Related terms

• vanitat

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin vādit, third person singular present active indicative of vādō. Usurped theoretically correct "ana" (from ambulāt; see ambulo) as the third person singular present of "anar".

Verb

va

1. third-person singular present indicative of anar
2. (auxiliary, with infinitive) third-person singular present indicative of anar

References

• “va” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “va” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cornish

Pronoun

va

1. he

Fijian

Fijian cardinal numbers

<  3	4	5  >
Cardinal : va

Etymology

From Proto-Central Pacific *vaa, from Proto-Oceanic *pat, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *pat, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat. Cognate to Indonesian empat.

Numeral

va

1. four

French

Etymology

Respectively from Latin vādit (indicative) and vāde (imperative), forms of vādō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

va

1. inflection of aller:
   1. third-person singular present active indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. inflection of vader:
   1. third-person singular present active indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

See also

• ça va

Anagrams

• av.

Galician

Adjective

va f sg

1. feminine singular of van

Gokana

Noun

va

1. wife

References

• R. Blench, Comparative Ogonic

Hlai

Etymology

From Proto-Hlai *Cuɾaː (“boat”), from Pre-Hlai *Cu[d/ɖ]aː (Norquest, 2015).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hlai, Baoding) IPA^(key): /va˥˧/

Noun

va

1. boat

Interlingua

Verb

va

1. present of ir
2. present of vader

Italian

Alternative forms

• và (misspelling)

Etymology

From Latin vādit, third person singular present active indicative of vādō, and vāde, second-person singular present active imperative of the same verb, respectively.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈva‿|| ˈva/

Verb

va

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

References

• va in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Japanese

Romanization

va

1. Rōmaji transcription of ゔぁ
2. Rōmaji transcription of わ゙
3. Rōmaji transcription of ヴァ
4. Rōmaji transcription of ヷ

Lala (South Africa)

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-jígua.

Verb

-vá

1. to hear, to understand

Ligurian

Verb

va

1. third-person singular present indicative of andâ

Lithuanian

Interjection

va (informal)

1. here you are; here you go; voilà; lo; behold

Verb

va (informal)

1. Here is.

   Va pienas.

   Here's the milk.

   Va kaip aš tai padariau.

   Here's how I did it.

2. There is.

Synonyms

• štai (suitable for use in formal contexts)

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French va (“go”).

Verb

va

1. (auxiliary) to go
2. to go

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

Manx

Alternative forms

• v’ (apocopic)

Verb

va (dependent form row)

1. past of bee

   Gyn coontey Juan va kiare ayn.

   Not counting John there were four.

   Keayrt va mee aeg as nish ta mee shenn.

   Once I was young and now I am old.

   She laa fliugh va'n.

   It was a wet day.

   Va kiaull ayns my chleayshyn.

   My ears were singing.

   Va my noidyn ooilley mygeayrt-y-moom.

   My enemies were all about me.

Maricopa

Noun

va

1. house

Matal

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Central Chadic *v- (“to give”)

Verb

va

1. to give

   Ama Yesu aslə̀h məlo à masasəɗok mawisiga uwatà à gəl la ndzəɗa, ŋgaha awurà bəzi ala, avà à baba aŋha. (Luka 9:42)

   ​But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. (Luke 9:42)

2. to let, allow

   Mok uwana tabə̀z à mtəga, Yesu avà tetəvi à dza amiyaka tekula kà mad à gày aw, say Piyer, Yuhana, Yakuba, ŋgaha baba la iyà aŋa bəzi pəra.(Luka 8:51)

   ​Now when Jesus came to the house, he did not allow anyone to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the father and mother of the child.(Luke 8:51)

Mòcheno

Etymology

From Middle High German von, from Old High German fon. Cognate with German von.

Preposition

va

1. ( dative) from

Derived terms

• van

References

• “va” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

Neapolitan

Alternative forms

• vace

Etymology

From Latin vādit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈva/
• Rhymes: -a

Verb

va

1. third-person singular present indicative of jí

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 519: “va a caccia” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• vade (long form)

Etymology

From Old Norse vaða, from Proto-Germanic *wadaną.

Verb

va (present tense var, past tense vadde, past participle vadd)

1. (intransitive) to wade

Synonyms

• vasse

References

• “va” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• av

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

va (present tense var, past tense vadde, supine vadd or vadt, past participle vadd, present participle vadande)

1. Alternative form of vada (“to wade”)

Etymology 2

Verb

va (present tense e)

1. (dialectal, colloquial) to be
2. (dialectal, colloquial) was

References

• “va” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• av

Old Czech

Etymology

Derived from original vě by analogy with numbers dvě and dva. The pronouns vě and va were used interchangeably regardless of the gender.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈʋa/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈva/

Pronoun

va

1. we two (first person dual)

   Synonyms: vě, (rare) ma

Declension

Declension of the personal pronouns

Singular	1st person	2nd person	Reflexive
Nominative	jáz, já	ty	—
Genitive	mne, mě	tebe, tě	sebe, sě
Dative	mně, mi	tobě, ti	sobě, si
Accusative	mě, mne	tě, tebe	sě, sebe
Locative	mně	tobě	sobě
Instrumental	mnú	tobú, tebú	sobú, sebú
Possessive	mój	tvój	svój
Dual	1st person	2nd person	Reflexive
Nominative	vě, va, ma	vy	—
Genitive	najú	vajú	sebe, sě
Dative	náma	váma	sobě, si
Accusative	ny, najú	vy, vajú	sě, sebe
Locative	najú	vajú	sobě
Instrumental	náma	váma	sobú, sebú
Possessive	náš, najú	váš, vajú	svój
Plural	1st person	2nd person	Reflexive
Nominative	my	vy	—
Genitive	nás	vás	sebe, sě
Dative	nám, nem	vám, vem	sobě, si
Accusative	ny, nás	vy, vás	sě, sebe
Locative	nás	vás	sobě
Instrumental	námi	vámi	sobú, sebú
Possessive	náš	váš	svój

References

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “va”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Pali

Etymology 1

From iva.

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• 𑀯 (Brahmi script)
• व (Devanagari script)
• ৰ (Bengali script)
• ව (Sinhalese script)
• ဝ (Burmese script)
• ว or วะ (Thai script)
• ᩅ (Tai Tham script)
• ວ or ວະ (Lao script)
• វ (Khmer script)
• 𑅇 (Chakma script)

Alternative scripts

• 𑀯 (Brahmi script)
• व (Devanagari script)
• ৰ (Bengali script)
• ව (Sinhalese script)
• ဝ (Burmese script)
• ว or วะ (Thai script)
• ᩅ (Tai Tham script)
• ວ or ວະ (Lao script)
• វ (Khmer script)
• 𑅇 (Chakma script)

Particle

va

1. (poetic, enclitic) like, as if

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• 𑀯 (Brahmi script)
• व (Devanagari script)
• ৰ (Bengali script)
• ව (Sinhalese script)
• ဝ (Burmese script)
• ว or วะ (Thai script)
• ᩅ (Tai Tham script)
• ວ or ວະ (Lao script)
• វ (Khmer script)
• 𑅇 (Chakma script)

Alternative scripts

• 𑀯 (Brahmi script)
• व (Devanagari script)
• ৰ (Bengali script)
• ව (Sinhalese script)
• ဝ (Burmese script)
• ว or วะ (Thai script)
• ᩅ (Tai Tham script)
• ວ or ວະ (Lao script)
• វ (Khmer script)
• 𑅇 (Chakma script)

Alternative scripts

• 𑀯 (Brahmi script)
• व (Devanagari script)
• ৰ (Bengali script)
• ව (Sinhalese script)
• ဝ (Burmese script)
• ว or วะ (Thai script)
• ᩅ (Tai Tham script)
• ວ or ວະ (Lao script)
• វ (Khmer script)
• 𑅇 (Chakma script)

Alternative scripts

• 𑀯 (Brahmi script)
• व (Devanagari script)
• ৰ (Bengali script)
• ව (Sinhalese script)
• ဝ (Burmese script)
• ว or วะ (Thai script)
• ᩅ (Tai Tham script)
• ວ or ວະ (Lao script)
• វ (Khmer script)
• 𑅇 (Chakma script)

Particle

va

1. sandhi form of eva (“even”)

Phuthi

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-jígua.

Verb

-vá

1. to understand

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [va]

Etymology 1

Probably from the third-person singular present indicative of vrea (“to want, to wish”), used in its special conjugation as an auxiliary verb (cf. the first-person voi (“(I) will”), from Vulgar Latin voleō (“I want”)). This semantic shift is visible in most languages of the Balkan sprachbund, compare voi cânta (literally “I want to sing”) with Serbo-Croatian ću pevati < hoću pevati, Bulgarian ще пея (šte peja) < ща да пея (šta da peja), Greek θα τραγουδήσω (tha tragoudíso) < θέλω να τραγουδήσω (thélo na tragoudíso), Albanian do të këndoj < dua të këndoj: all being somewhat reduced forms of "I wish to sing".

An alternative etymology is that it began originally as the now rare word in etymology 2 below, from forms of Latin vādere (“to go”), and was confused with conjugated forms of voi / vrea in Romanian; compare voi cânta (“I will sing”) to the constructions in French je vais chanter and Spanish voy a cantar with the same meaning (literally, "I am going to sing").

Verb

(el/ea) va (modal auxiliary, third-person singular form of vrea, used with infinitives to form future indicative tenses)

1. (he/she) will

   va fi aici mai târziu?

   will he/she be here later?

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin vādit, third person singular present active indicative of vādō. It is also rarely used as a second person singular imperative form, meaning "go", from Latin vāde (and plural form vați from vāditis). 16th century Transylvanian documents also display respective variant forms vă and vareți. Cognate with Italian, Spanish, and French va.

Alternative forms

• vă — rare

Verb

va

1. (to go), only used in mai va (see usage notes).
2. (regional, Crișana) go (imperative) (plural vați)

Usage notes

The conjugation for this verb is defective, with the only remaining form being va, used in the expression "mai va", meaning "it will take longer or there is more to go (until then)".

Synonyms

• (to go): merge, duce
• (go): du-te, duceți-vă

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈba/ [ˈba]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: va

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin vādit, third person singular present active indicative of vādō.

Verb

va

1. third-person singular present indicative of ir

Etymology 2

Short form of vale.

Interjection

va

1. (Mexico) okay

Swazi

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-jígua.

Verb

-vá

1. to understand

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Swedish

Etymology 1

A står för avlopp

Noun

va ?

1. water supply and sewage; abbreviation of vatten och avlopp.

Declension

Uninflected.

Related terms

• va-nämnd

Etymology 2

From vad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈva/

Interjection

va

1. huh? what? A request that the speaker repeat their last statement, or an expression of disbelief. Contraction of vad.

   Va?

   What did you say?

See also

• vasa

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɑː/

Verb

va

1. (colloquial) Apocopic form of vara

   Jag vill inte va tomte i år!

   I don't want to be Santa this year!

2. (colloquial) Apocopic form of var

   Han va inte där.

   He wasn't there.

Pronoun

va

1. (colloquial) Apocopic form of vad (“what”)

   Va göru?

   What are you doing?

Anagrams

• av, av-

Talysh

Noun

va

1. snow

Uzbek

Other scripts
Yangi Imlo	ۋە
Cyrillic	ва‍
Latin	va‍
Perso-Arabic (Afghanistan)	و

Etymology

Inherited from Chagatai وَ (wa /⁠wä⁠/, “and”), from Classical Persian وَ (wa, “and”), from Arabic وَ (wa, “and”). Cognate with Uyghur ۋە / we / вә (we, “and”); Turkish ve (“and”), etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /væ/
• Hyphenation: va

Conjunction

va

1. and

   sen va men ― you and me

   Bosniya va Gersegovina ― Bosnia and Herzegovina

Venetan

Etymology

From Latin vādit, vādunt, vādis, and vāde forms of vādō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va/

Verb

va

1. present indicative third-person of ndar
2. (regional) present indicative second-person singular of ndar
3. present imperative second-person singular of ndar

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [vaː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [vaː˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [vaː˧˧] ~ [jaː˧˧]

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

va • (撝)

1. to bump into (something)

   Hai người ấy va vào nhau.

   They (those two) bumped into each other.

See also

• đụng

Derived terms

• va chạm
• va đập
• va quẹt

 

Etymology 2

Attested in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651) as ua, va.

Compare Khmer វា (viə).

Pronoun

va • (撝, 爲)

1. (obsolete, literary) he/him; she/her; they/them (singular third person pronoun)
   • 1919, Phạm Duy Tốn, “Nước đời lắm nỗi”, in Tạp chí Nam Phong:

     Người ấy trông chừng cũng đã nhiều tuổi, thấy tôi đến gần, vẫn nằm vắt chân chéo khoeo, kéo một hơi thẳng, không thở tị tí khói nào. Tôi biết ngay va là tay lão luyện.

     He seemed like a fairly old guy; as he saw me approaching, he kept lying still with his legs crossed, took a deep hit yet not letting out a whit of smoke. I knew right away that he's a veteran [smoker].

Usage notes

• When used on its own, this word seems to be used chiefly as a literary device for narration purpose (similar to modern y), and not as a word commonly used in the spoken language. However, when occurring in compounds (such as anh va, etc.), it did seem to be used colloquially.
• It did not seem to carry any inherent honorific nor pejorative function, so its connotation on its own was likely fairly neutral.
• Although most attestations show its usage for males, this word was also used to refer to females, such as in Trương Vĩnh Ký's Tích Túy-Kiều (1911), which is a prose retelling of Nguyễn Du's Truyện Kiều:
  1. • 1911, Trương Vĩnh Ký, Tích Túy-Kiều:

       Leo qua gặp Kim-trọng dắc vào nhà, ở đó trò-chuyện, làm thơ, làm phú, đánh đờn đánh địch, thề nguyền với nhau cho một ngày một đêm; khuya lại Kim-trọng muốn xáp việc, mà va không cho.

       She climbed over [the wall] to meet Kim-trọng, who then invited her to come inside the estate; there they talked, wrote poetry, played instruments, and made all kinds of [lovers'] promises, all throughout that whole day; come night-time, Kim-trọng wanted to get intimate, but she [Kiều] refused.

See also

Derived terms

• anh va
• chàng va
• chị va
• chú va
• nghỉ va
• nhà va

 

Xhosa

Etymology 1

Verb

-va^?

1. to feel

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Bantu *-jígua.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [v̥a̤]

Verb

-̂va

1. to understand
2. to hear

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Zazaki

Etymology

From Proto-Iranian *HwáHatah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *HwáHatas, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts.

Noun

va

1. wind

Zhuang

Etymology

From Chinese 花 (MC xwae).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /βa˨˦/
• Tone numbers: va¹
• Hyphenation: va

Noun

va (Sawndip forms 椛 or 𦭈, 1957–1982 spelling va)

1. flower

   Synonym: ndok

Zou

Va khet.

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *waa, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *wa. Cognates include Khumi Chin tävaw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va˧˥/

Noun

vá

1. bird

Derived terms

• inva
• kangva
• vala
• vasa

 

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 46