cama

See also: Appendix:Variations of "cama"

English

Etymology

Blend of camel +‎ llama.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːmə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːmə
• Homophones: comma (father–bother merger); karma (non-rhotic)

Noun

cama (plural camas)

1. A hybrid animal produced by breeding a camel and a llama.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

See also

• cama fox

Anagrams

• AACM, ACMA, AMAC, MCAA, maca

Asturian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Paleo-Hispanicbor.?

Late Latin cama

Asturian cama

Inherited from Late Latin cama..

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkama/ [ˈka.ma]
• Rhymes: -ama
• Syllabification: ca‧ma

Noun

cama f (plural cames)

1. bed (piece of furniture)
2. mark, print left by someone or something after laying on a spot

Further reading

• “cama”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN
• García Arias, Xosé Lluis (2002–2004), “cama”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (overall work in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin gamba (“horse's hock”), from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “bend”). Doublet of gamba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [ˈka.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈka.ma]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

cama f (plural cames)

1. leg

   Synonym: gamba

2. stem, stalk, stipe (of a plant)
3. gaskin (of a horse)

Derived terms

• cama-roig
• cama-sec
• cama-segat
• camagroc
• camal
• camejar
• camella
• cameta

Further reading

• “cama”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish cama, from Late Latin cama.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ca‧ma

Noun

cama

1. bed

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ma/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Verb

cama

1. third-person singular past historic of camer

Galician

A cama in an abandoned house

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese cama, from Late Latin cama (6th century, Isidore of Seville), probably from Paleo-Hispanic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkama/ [ˈkɑ.mɐ]
• Rhymes: -ama
• Hyphenation: ca‧ma

Noun

cama f (plural camas)

1. bed
   • 1484, X. Ferro Couselo (ed.), A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI. 2 vols. Vigo: Galaxia, page 127:

     Iten, mando mays á dita Contança Gonçales, miña muller, a quarta parte da adega dos Vrancos, por quanto eu e ela conpramos a metade da dita adega a Meen Suares Galinato, e mándolle mays a cuba en que teño o viño branco e mays outras duas cubas que son dentro ena dita adega aa maao esquerda, vasyas, que teñen cada una doze moyos de lagar, e mays lle mando una cama de roupa con quatro cabeçaás e un colchón e un almadraque e con suas sabaas e media duzia d'almofadas e con hua manta de picote, e se ouver em casa un par de colchas, que aja ela una delas.

     Item, I devise said Constanza González, my wife, a fourth of the wine cellar of Os Brancos, since we both bought a half of it from Men Suarez Galiñato; and I also bequeath a cask in which I have the white wine, and also two other casks that are inside that wine cellar, on the left, empty, each one having twelve modii; and also bequeath to her a clothed bed with four pillows and a mattress and a mat, and with its sheets and half a dozen cushions and a blanket of coarse linen, and if there is in the house a pair of quilts, she should have one of them

   Synonym: leito

2. platform of a cart
3. garden plot

References

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

Further reading

• “cama”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “cama”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkamˠə/

Adjective

cama

1. nominative/vocative/dative/strong genitive plural of cam

Mutation

Mutated forms of cama

radical	lenition	eclipsis
cama	chama	gcama

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Kimaama

Noun

cama

1. cheek

References

• Bill Palmer, editor (2018), The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area, Berlin: de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 664

Latin

Etymology

Isidore, quoted below, folk-etymologises a dubious Greek origin. Still, no solid alternative is available. The distribution of its descendants may suggest it was borrowed from Paleo-Hispanic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkama/

Noun

cama f (genitive camae); first declension (Late Latin)

1. (Spain) bed
   • ca. 600, Isidorus Hispalensis [Isidore of Seville], Etymologiae, 19, 22, 29 & 20, 11, 2. In: Isidori Hispalensis episcopi etymologiarum sive originum libri XX. Recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit W. M. Linday. Tomus II libros XI–XX continens, Oxonium, 1911:

     Camisias vocari quod in his dormimus in camis, id est in stratis nostris. / Cama est brevis et circa terram; Graeci enim χαμαὶ breve dicunt.

     They are called bedshirts for we don them to sleep on beds, that is on our beds. / A bed is low and close to the ground; the Greeks therefore call it χαμαὶ (khamaì, “low”).

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cama	camae
genitive	camae	camārum
dative	camae	camīs
accusative	camam	camās
ablative	camā	camīs
vocative	cama	camae

Descendants

• Asturian: cama
• Mirandese: cama
• Old Galician-Portuguese: cama
  • Galician: cama
  • Portuguese: cama (see there for further descendants)
• Spanish: cama (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “cama”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cama”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Late Latin cama, first attested in Isidore. Likely a borrowing from an Iberian substrate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.ma/

Noun

cama f (plural camas)

1. bed

Descendants

• Galician: cama
• Portuguese: cama (see there for further descendants)

Old Irish

Adjective

cama

1. alternative spelling of camma

Mutation

Mutation of cama

radical	lenition	nasalization
cama	chama	cama pronounced with /ɡ-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Spanish

Etymology 1

Inherited from Late Latin cama.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.ma/

Noun

cama f (plural camas)

1. bed

Descendants

• Ladino: kama / קאמה
• Spanish: cama

Etymology 2

Inherited from Late Latin camba. Became obsolete in Spanish, likely due to homophony with cama (“bed”, above etymology). Compare Catalan cama (“leg”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.ma/

Noun

cama f (plural camas)

1. leg
2. thigh

Further reading

• Fulk, Randal C. (1980), “Old Spanish tiesta and cama”, in Romance Notes, volume 20, number 3, →JSTOR, pages 441–447

Portuguese

cama (sense 1)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cama, from Late Latin cama, first attested in Isidore. Likely a borrowing from an Iberian substrate.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɐ̃.mɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkɐ.mɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkɐ.mɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈka.mɐ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɐmɐ, (Brazil) -ɐ̃mɐ
• Hyphenation: ca‧ma

Noun

cama f (plural camas, diminutive caminha, augmentative camona)

2. bed (furniture for sleeping on)

   Synonyms: leito, ninho

   Holonym: quarto

Derived terms

• acamar
• cama de casal
• cama elástica
• caminha (diminutive)
• camona (augmentative)
• de cama
• fazer a cama
• ir para a cama
• ir para a cama com
• levantar do lado errado da cama
• roupa de cama
• saco-cama
• sofá-cama

Descendants

• Kabuverdianu: kama
• → Chichewa: kama
• ⇒? Kimbundu: mukama

See also

• caama

Spanish

Una cama antigua ― An old bed

Etymology

Etymology tree

Paleo-Hispanicbor.?

Late Latin cama

Old Spanish cama

Spanish cama

Inherited from Old Spanish cama, from Late Latin cama, possibly borrowed from Paleo-Hispanic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkama/ [ˈka.ma]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ama
• Syllabification: ca‧ma

Noun

cama f (plural camas)

1. bed

   Synonyms: catre (Philippines), lecho (less common)

   La cama es azul.

   The bed is blue.

   Tómate la sopa y vete a la cama.

   Eat the soup and go to bed.

Derived terms

• antecama
• caer en cama
• caer en la cama
• cama abatible
• cama de agua
• cama de galgos
• cama de matrimonio
• cama de tijera
• cama doble
• cama elástica
• cama individual
• cama marinera
• cama matrimonial
• cama nido
• cama plegable
• cama solar
• cama turca
• camilla
• camita
• casa de camas
• colgadura de cama
• diosa de la cama
• en cama
• en la cama
• estar en cama
• guardar cama
• guardar la cama
• hacer la cama
• irse a la cama
• mojar la cama
• ropa de cama
• saltar de la cama
• salto de cama
• sofá cama
• tender la cama

Descendants

• Chavacano: cama
• → Central Bikol: kama
• → Copala Triqui: camá
• → Maranao: kama
• → Tagalog: kama

Further reading

• “cama”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “cama”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒaˈma/

Noun

cama

1. dative singular of cam