cal

English Online Dictionary. What means cal‎? What does cal mean?

Translingual

Symbol

cal

1. calorie

Derived terms

• ㎉ / kcal

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kæl/
• Rhymes: -æl

Etymology 1

Clippings.

Noun

cal (plural cals)

1. (informal) Clipping of calorie.
2. (military, informal) Clipping of caliber.
3. (informal) Clipping of calendar.
4. Clipping of calibration.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

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

Noun

cal (uncountable)

1. (mining, archaic, UK, dialect, Cornwall) wolfram, an ore of tungsten.

References

Etymology 3

From an abbreviation of calcium hydroxide.

Noun

cal (uncountable)

1. calcium hydroxide, slaked lime

See also

Anagrams

• ACL, CLA, LAC, LAc, LCA, Lac, alc, lac

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• calu

Etymology

From Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”). Compare Romanian cal.

Noun

cal m (plural calj or cai)

1. horse

Related terms

• cãlãrets
• cãlar / ncãlar
• cãlãriu
• ncalic

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkal]
• Rhymes: -al

Etymology 1

Contraction

cal

1. Contraction of ca el.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cal

1. third-person singular present indicative of caldre

Chinese

Etymology

From clipping of English calibrate.

Pronunciation

Verb

cal

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to fine-tune; to calibrate (a hardware, e.g. camera, television, speakers)

See also

• cal機／cal机, caltor

Dalmatian

Etymology 1

From Latin quālis.

Conjunction

cal

1. as

Etymology 2

From Latin callis.

Noun

cal

1. road, street

References

• Bartoli, Matteo (1906) Il Dalmatico: Resti di un’antica lingua romanza parlata da Veglia a Ragusa e sua collocazione nella Romània appenino-balcanica, Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, published 2000

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kal/

Noun

cal m (plural cals)

1. callus (hardened part of the skin)

Further reading

• “cal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkal/ [ˈkɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese cal, from Vulgar Latin *calem, from Latin calx, from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”).

Noun

cal m (plural cales)

1. lime (calcium oxide)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese caal, from Latin canalis. Doublet of canal.

Alternative forms

• canle

Noun

cal m or f (plural cales)

1. ditch
2. furrow
3. mill race
4. chute

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Old Galician-Portuguese cal / qual, from Latin quālis (“which”). Cognate with Portuguese qual and Spanish cual.

Alternative forms

• cual

Pronoun

cal (plural cales)

1. which (what one)

Etymology 4

Noun

cal f (uncountable)

1. Abbreviation of caloría.

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “qual”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “cal”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “cãal”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cal”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cal”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cal”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cal”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Istriot

Etymology

From Latin callis, callem.

Noun

cal

1. street, alley

Megleno-Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), probably of Gaulish [Term?] origin.

Noun

cal m

1. horse

References

• Atasanov, Petar (1990) Le mégléno-roumain de nos jours: Une approche linguistique, Hamburg: Buske

Old English

Etymology

Variant of cawel.

Noun

cāl m

1. cabbage, kale, colewort

Descendants

• Middle English: col
  • English: cole

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “cál”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[2], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Old Galician-Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: cal

Etymology 1

Inherited from Vulgar Latin cals, from Latin calx, from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”).

Noun

cal f (plural cals)

1. lime (calcium oxide)

Descendants

• Galician: cal
• Portuguese: cal

Etymology 2

Pronoun

cal

1. Alternative form of qual

Descendants

• Galician: cal

References

• Manuel Ferreiro (2014–2025) “cal”, in Universo Cantigas. Edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN

Pipil

Etymology

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *kaliR. Compare Classical Nahuatl calli (“house”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard) IPA^(key): /kal/
• (Witzapan) IPA^(key): /ɡal/
• (Cuisnahuat) IPA^(key): /kaɬ/, /kaːl/
• (Teotepeque) IPA^(key): /kaɬ/
• (Jicalapa) IPA^(key): /kaɬʲ/

Noun

cal (plural cahcal)

1. an enclosed habitational space, a house or room

Related terms

• -chan (“home”)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡sal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: cal

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Zoll.

Noun

cal m inan

1. inch (English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm, conceived as roughly the width of a thumb)

Declension

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cal

1. second-person singular imperative of calić

Further reading

• cal in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• cal in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cal, from Vulgar Latin cals, from Latin calx, from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: cal

Noun

cal f or (nonstandard) m (usually uncountable, plural cales or cais)

1. lime (calcium oxide)

Usage notes

Although common, the usage of cal as a masculine-gender noun is proscribed.

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), probably of Gaulish [Term?] origin or from something further east, such as a Scythian and ultimately Proto-Iranian [Term?] origin. The Romanian word likely went through an earlier hypothetical form *căal or *caual. Compare Aromanian cal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kal/

Noun

cal m (plural cai)

1. horse
2. (chess) knight

Declension

Related terms

• călare
• încăleca

See also

References

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkal/ [ˈkal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: cal

Etymology 1

Inherited from Vulgar Latin cals, from Latin calx (via the nominative), from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”).

Noun

cal f (uncountable)

1. lime (calcium oxide)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Symbol

cal

1. Symbol of caloría

Further reading

• “cal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Volapük

Noun

cal (nominative plural cals)

1. occupation
2. office (position)
3. profession

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• cäl
• cälan
• cäläb
• cälod
• cälodön
• cälov
• cälovik
• cälön
• hicäläb
• hicälan
• jicäläb
• jicälan
• laidacäl