empenta

Catalan

Etymology 1

From a substantivation of the feminine of Old Catalan empent (the original past participle of empènyer), from Vulgar Latin *impinctus, as an alternative past participle of Latin impingō (instead of the Classical participle impāctus). The Vulgar Latin form would have ordinarily yielded a Catalan *empint, but analogy with other forms of the verb resulted in empent. Compare Italian impinta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [əmˈpe̞n.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əmˈpən.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [əmˈpɛn.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [emˈpen.ta]

Noun

empenta f (plural empentes)

1. push, shove
2. push (great effort)
3. push (attempt to persuade someone to do something)

Derived terms

• a empentes
• empentar

Related terms

• empènyer

Descendants

• → Spanish: empenta

References

• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “empellón”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[1] (in Spanish), volume II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 577
• “empenta”, 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
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “empenta”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Etymology 2

Verb

empenta

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

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Aragonese empenta or Catalan empenta, a noun based ultimately on some analogical past participle derived from Latin impingere (as if from Vulgar Latin *impincta, but not directly, because that would have yielded *empinta). Displaced in Modern Spanish by words such as empujón.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /emˈpenta/ [ẽmˈpẽn̪.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -enta
• Syllabification: em‧pen‧ta

Noun

empenta f (plural empentas)

1. (obsolete) shove; push

References

• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “empellón”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[2] (in Spanish), volume II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 577

Further reading

• “empenta”, 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