# barba
## Aragonese
### Etymology

From Latin barba.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbaɾba/
* Rhymes: -aɾba
* Syllabification: bar‧ba

### Noun

barba f (plural barbas)
* beard

### References

* Diccionario ortografico de l'aragonés (Seguntes la PO de l'EFA)
* Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002) “barba”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

## Asturian
### Etymology

From Latin barba.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbaɾba/ [ˈbaɾ.β̞a]
* Rhymes: -aɾba
* Hyphenation: bar‧ba

### Noun

barba f (plural barbes)
* chin
* beard
* baleen

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈbar.bə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈbaɾ.ba]

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin barba, from earlier *farba, from Proto-Italic *farβā, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂ (“beard”).

#### Noun

barba f (plural barbes)
* chin
    Synonyms: mentó, barbó, barbeta
* beard

##### Derived terms

* barba-reveixí
* barba-roig
* barba-ros
* barba-serrat
* barbablanc
* barbabrut
* barbaclar
* barbada
* barbaespès
* barbaflorit
* barbafort
* barbafresc
* barbagrís
* barballa
* barbamec
* barbanegre
* barbapunyent
* barbat
* barber
* barbeta
* barbut

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

barba
* inflection of barbar:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

### Further reading

* “barba” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “barba”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “barba” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “barba” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Cimbrian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Venetan barba (“paternal uncle”), from Medieval Latin barbās (“paternal uncle”).

### Noun

barba m (plural barben)
* (Sette Comuni, Luserna) uncle
    De barben zeint zobia béetare. ― Uncles are like fathers.

### References

* Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
* “barba” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

## Corsican
### Alternative forms

* berba

### Etymology

From Latin barba.

### Noun

barba f (plural barbe)
* beard

### References

* “barba” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

## Emilian
### Alternative forms

* bärba (Parmigiano)
* berba (Carpigiano)
* bèrba (Bolognese)

### Etymology

From Latin barba.

### Noun

barba f (plural barbi)
* (Mirandola) beard

## Esperanto
### Etymology

From barbo (“beard”) +‎ -a (adjectival suffix).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈbarba]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -arba
* Hyphenation: bar‧ba

### Adjective

barba (accusative singular barban, plural barbaj, accusative plural barbajn)
* of or related to beards
* having a beard, beardy (of people)
    Synonym: barbhava

#### Related terms

* barbo (“beard”)

## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

barba
* third-person singular past historic of barber

## Galician
### Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese barba, from Latin barba.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbaɾba/ [ˈbaɾ.β̞ɐ]
* Rhymes: -aɾba
* Hyphenation: bar‧ba

### Noun

barba f (plural barbas)
* beard
* chin
    Synonym: barbadela
* (ornithology) barb (of a feather)

### Further reading

* “barba”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Interlingua
### Noun

barba (plural barbas)
* beard

#### Related terms

* barbero

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbar.ba/
* Rhymes: -arba
* Hyphenation: bàr‧ba

### Etymology 1

From Latin barba, from earlier *farba, from Proto-Italic *farβā, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂ (“beard”).

#### Noun

barba f (plural barbe, diminutive barbétta (“beard”) or barbettìna (“beard”); barbìna (“beard”) or (more common) barbìno m (“beard”); barbicèlla (“root”) or barbicìna (“root”) or barbolìna (“root”), augmentative barbóna (“beard”) or (more common) barbóne m (“beard”), pejorative barbàccia (“beard”), derogatory barbùccia (“beard”))
* beard
* (botany) root, rootlet
* (zoology) barb
* (colloquial) bore, drag, yawn (an event or action which is boring)

##### Derived terms

* barbabietola
* Barbarossa
* barbone
* barboso
* barbuto

##### Related terms

* imberbe

#### See also

* baffi m pl

### Etymology 2

From Medieval Latin barbās, from barba (“the beard”), from the fact that a beard represents a grown man.

#### Noun

barba m (plural barbi)
* (northern Italy, Switzerland) uncle, protestant priest
    Synonym: zio

##### Descendants

* → Greek: μπάρμπας (bármpas)
* → Mòcheno: barba

### References

* ↑ barba in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈbar.ba/, [ˈbärbä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈbar.ba/, [ˈbärbä]

### Etymology 1

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰéh₂ (“beard”). Since PIE *bʰ normally became [f] at the start of a Latin word, the initial [b] calls for some explanation. It is generally attributed to long-distance regressive assimilation in voicing and/or manner of articulation (e.g. *farb- > barb-).
Katz (1998 and 2006:335-337) identifies one other potential example of this sound change, berber (found only in the Carmen Arvale; interpreted by Katz as meaning "firm", cognate to firmus, from *dʰer-), and proposes the sound law *fVrb- > bVrb-, noting it has no apparent counterexamples. This sound law is also endorsed by Weiss 2018:439-440 (citing Katz 2006), with the same examples, although Weiss prefers to interpret berber as meaning 'at every door' and derive it from *dʰwer- (“door, gate”) via *dʰwer-dʰwer (citing Weiss 2017 and Ligorio 2012). On the other hand, De Vaan 2008, citing Driessen 2001, considers this rule ad hoc. For comparison, fiber from *bʰébʰrus (with the similar but not identical shape fVbr-) shows a lack of assimilation (Katz 2006:336).
Previously, Weiss 2009 suggested the alternative of deriving the */b-/ via long-distance aspirate dissimilation ("limited Latin Grassmann's Law") turning *bʰardʰeh₂ into *bardʰeh₂.
De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *farβā on the assumption that Italian farfecchie is borrowed from a cognate word in another Italic language. If this reconstruction is correct, then the assimilation discussed above must have postdated the common Italic stage.

#### Noun

barba f (genitive barbae); first declension
* beard (facial hair)
    Barba nōn facit philosophum.A beard does not make a philosopher.
    Videō barbam et pallium; philosophum nōndum videō.I see a beard and cloak; a philosopher I don’t yet see.
* (figuratively) wool, down on a plant

##### Declension

First-declension noun.

##### Synonyms

* (beard): barbitium

##### Derived terms

* barbā tenus sapiēns
* barbātōria
* barbātus
* barbescō
* barbiger
* barbiō
* barbitium
* barbula
* barbus
* imberbis
* malebarbis

##### Descendants

* Eastern Romance
** Aromanian: barbã
** Istro-Romanian: borbĕ
** Romanian: barbă
* Franco-Provençal: bârba
* Gallo-Romance
** Emilian: barba
** Ligurian: bàrba
** Lombard: barba
** Piedmontese: barba
* Italo-Dalmatian
** Corsican: barba
** Italian: barba
** Dalmatian: buarba
** Sicilian: varva, barba, varba
* Occitano-Romance
** Catalan: barba
** Occitan: barba
* Oïl
** Old French: barbe
*** Middle French: barbe
**** French: barbe
** Old Northern French: barbe
*** Norman: barbe
*** Walloon: båbe
*** Anglo-Norman: barbe
* Rhaeto-Romance
** Friulian: barbe
** Romansch: barba
* Sardinian: balba, barba, balva
* Venetan: barba
** ⇒ Venetan: barbièr (“barber”)
*** → Ottoman Turkish: بربر (berber) (see there for further descendants)
* West Iberian
** Aragonese: barba
** Asturian: barba
** Old Galician-Portuguese: barva
*** Galician: barba
*** Portuguese: barba
**** → Sranan Tongo: barba
***** Aukan: baiba
** Ladino: barva, בארב׳ה
** Spanish: barba
* → Proto-Brythonic: *barv
** Breton: barv
** Cornish: barv
** Welsh: barf

### Etymology 2

A variant form of the Medieval Latin barbās (“paternal uncle”).

#### Noun

barba m (genitive barbae); first declension
* Alternative form of barbās

##### Declension

First-declension noun.

### References

* 1 2 Katz, Joshua T. (2006) “The "'Urbi et Orbi'-Rule" Revisted”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies, The, volume 34, number 3 & 4
* ↑ Weiss, Michael (2018) “Limited Latin Grassmann's Law: Do We Need It?”, in Dieter Gunkel, Stephanie W. Jamison, Angelo O. Mercado and Kazuhiko Yoshida, editors, Vina Diem Celebrent: Studies in Linguistics and Philology in Honor of Brent Vine, Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press: “Thus nothing stands in the way of positing a regular assimilation of *fVrb to *bVrb with one certain and one speculative example.”
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “berber”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 70
* ↑ Weiss, Michael L. (2009) Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin‎, Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press, →ISBN, page 156

### Further reading

* “barba”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “barba”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "2. BARBA", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. to grow one's hair, beard long: promittere crinem, barbam
* “barba”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “barba”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
* De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “barba”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 69

## Lombard
### Etymology

Akin to Italian barba, from Latin.

### Noun

barba f
* beard

## Mòcheno
### Etymology

From Italian barba, from Medieval Latin barbās (“paternal uncle”).

### Noun

barba m
* uncle
    Coordinate term: moa'm

### References

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

## Occitan
### Etymology

From Latin barba.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

barba f (plural barbas)
* beard

## Piedmontese
### Etymology

From Latin barba.

### Noun

barba m
* uncle

## Portuguese
### Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese barba, barva, from Latin barba (“beard”), from earlier *farba, from Proto-Italic *farβā, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂ (“beard”).

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈbaʁ.bɐ/ [ˈbaɦ.bɐ]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈbaʁ.bɐ/ [ˈbaɦ.bɐ]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /ˈbaɾ.bɐ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈbaʁ.bɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈbaɻ.ba/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈbaɾ.bɐ/ [ˈbaɾ.βɐ]
* Rhymes: (Brazil) -aʁbɐ, (Portugal) -aɾbɐ
* Hyphenation: bar‧ba

### Noun

barba f (plural barbas)
* beard

#### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:barba.

#### Derived terms

* abarbar
* barba de baleia
* barba de cabra
* barba-azul
* barba-de-velho
* barbado
* barbear
* barbinha
* fazer a barba
* pós-barba

#### Related terms

* Barbados
* barbicha
* imberbe

#### Descendants

* → Sranan Tongo: barba
** Aukan: baiba

### See also

* bigode
* buço
* cavanhaque

### Further reading

* “barba”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
* “barba”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

## Romanian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈbarba]

### Noun

barba f
* definite nominative/accusative singular of barbă

## Romansch
### Etymology

From Latin barba, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰ-eh₂- (compare English beard). Compare meaning of "uncle" to Friulian barbe, Italian barba, Dalmatian buarba.

### Noun

barba f (plural barbas)
* beard

### Noun

barba m (plural barbas)
* (Rumantsch Grischun, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) uncle

#### Synonyms

* (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) aug
* (Sutsilvan) oc, ô

#### Coordinate terms

* (with regards to gender):
** (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) onda
** (Vallader) anda
** (Puter, Vallader) tanta

## Sicilian
### Noun

barba f (plural barbi)
* Alternative form of varva

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbaɾba/ [ˈbaɾ.β̞a]
* Audio (Colombia):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɾba
* Syllabification: bar‧ba

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin barba, from earlier *farba, from Proto-Italic *farβā, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂ (“beard”).

#### Noun

barba f (plural barbas)
* beard
* chin
    Synonyms: mentón, barbilla

#### Noun

barba m (plural barbas)
* beardy, bearded man
* (archaic) the part of an old man (in a play)
* (archaic) the villain (of a play)

##### Derived terms

* a barba regalada
* andar con la barba por el suelo
* barba a barba
* barba cerrada
* barba de cabra
* barba de chivo
* barba de Júpiter
* barba de piedra
* barba de tres días
* barba partida
* barbas de ballena
* barbería
* barbero
* barbiespeso
* barbijo
* barbilla
* barbón
* barbudo
* con toda la barba
* echar a las barbas
* hacer la barba
* mentir por la barba
* por barba
* subirse a las barbas
* tirarse de las barbas

##### Related terms

* imberbe

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

barba
* inflection of barbar:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

### Further reading

* “barba”, 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

## Sranan Tongo
### Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese barba.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbaɾba/, [ˈba̠ɾba̠], [ˈbɑ̟ɾbɑ̟]

### Noun

barba
* beard
** 2002, SIL, “Anansi nanga a ston san abi barba”, in Languages of Suriname‎, Sranan Tongo Library:Wan dei Anansi ben koiri ini a busi. Dan di ai koiri a si wan sani di noiti a ben si bifo: wan ston di abi barba.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* Aukan: baiba