# Jessica
## English
### Alternative forms

* Jessyca

### Etymology

First used by William Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice in the early 17th century, probably from Hebrew יִסְכָּה (yiská, “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe version”), a proper name meaning "he will see/behold/look for", the 3ms imperfect form of a verb ultimately from the root ס־כ־ה (s-k-h), itself an alternative form of the root שׂ־כ־ה (ś-k-h), both of which mean "to see, behold, look for".
* By folk etymology seen as an elaborate form of Jessie, from Jane.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: jĕsʹĭkə, IPA: /ˈd͡ʒɛsɪkə/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Proper noun

Jessica (plural Jessicas)
* A female given name from Hebrew.
** c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:Lorenzo: In such a night / Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew, / And with an unthrift love did run from Venice, / As far as Belmont.
** 1996, Tad Williams, The Writer's Child, The Sandman Book of Dreams, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 154:She will be beautiful, of course - how could our child not be beautiful? We will name her...Jessica. Yes, that's a good name, not one of those lighter-than-air names so popular among writers of romances and fairy tales. That's a name a real little girl might have.
** 2015, Sunjeev Sahota, The Year of the Runaways, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN:Jessica. It was, she later thought, a name well suited to whitehaired ladies with bright blue eyes.

#### Usage notes

* Formerly rare, but from the 1970s to the 2010s popular in all English-speaking countries.

#### Related terms

* (diminutives): Jess, Jessie, Jes, Jessa.

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Klein, Ernest (1987) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English‎, Jerusalem: Carta, →ISBN, page 445
* ↑ Klein, Ernest (1987) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English‎, Jerusalem: Carta, →ISBN, page 656

## Cebuano
### Etymology

From English Jessica.

### Proper noun

Jessica
* a female given name

#### Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jessica.

## Danish
### Etymology

Recently borrowed from English Jessica.

### Proper noun

Jessica
* a female given name

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from English Jessica, popular at the end of the 20th century.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʒɛ.si.ka/ ~ /ʒe.si.ka/
* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Jessica f
* a female given name

## German
### Etymology

Borrowed from English Jessica, popular at the end of the 20th century.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Jessica
* a female given name

## Polish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Jessica.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /d͡ʐɛˈsika/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ika
* Syllabification: Je‧ssi‧ca

### Proper noun

Jessica f
* Alternative spelling of Dżesika

#### Declension
### Further reading

* Jessica in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Jessica.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /xeˈsika/ [xeˈsi.ka]
* Rhymes: -ika
* Syllabification: Jes‧si‧ca

### Proper noun

Jessica f
* a female given name

## Swedish
### Alternative forms

* Jessika

### Etymology

Borrowed from English Jessica, popular at the end of the 20th century.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Jessica c (genitive Jessicas)
* a female given name