cama
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɑːmə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑːmə
- Homophone: comma (accents with the father-bother merger), karma (nonrhotic accents)
See also
Catalan
Etymology
Inherited from Late Latin gamba (“horse's hock”), from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “bend”). Doublet of gamba.
Further reading
- “cama” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Chavacano
Etymology
Inherited from Spanish cama, from Late Latin cama.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkama/, [ˈka.ma]
Galician

Etymology
From Old Galician-Portuguese cama, from Late Latin cama (6th century, Isidore of Seville), probably from a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈkɑmɐ]
Noun
cama f (plural camas)
- 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
- 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:
- platform of a cart
- garden plot
References
- “cama” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “cama” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “cama” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “cama” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “cama” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkamˠə/
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 a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkama/
Noun
cama f (genitive camae); first declension (Late Latin)
- 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 bed-shirts because in these we sleep on beds, that is, on our beds.
A bed is low and near the ground, for the Greeks say χαμαὶ for "low".
- They are called bed-shirts because in these we sleep on beds, that is, on our beds.
- 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:
Declension
First-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | cama | camae |
Genitive | camae | camārum |
Dative | camae | camīs |
Accusative | camam | camās |
Ablative | camā | camīs |
Vocative | cama | camae |
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/
Old Irish
Old Spanish
Etymology
Inherited from Late Latin camba. Eventually lost, likely due to homophony with cama (“bed”). Cf. Catalan cama (“leg”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkama/
References
- Fulk, Randal C. 1980. Old Spanish ''tiesta'' and ''cama''. Romance Notes 20. 441–447.
Portuguese

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/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈkɐ.ma/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈkɐ.mɐ/
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈka.mɐ/
- Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɐmɐ, (Brazil) -ɐ̃mɐ
- Hyphenation: ca‧ma
See also
Spanish

Etymology
Inherited from Late Latin cama, first attested in Isidore. Likely a borrowing from an Iberian substrate.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkama/ [ˈka.ma]
Audio (Colombia): (file) - Rhymes: -ama
- Syllabification: ca‧ma
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 matrimonial
- cama nido
- cama plegable
- 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
Further reading
- “cama”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014