Jessica

See also: Jéssica, Jessicą, and Jessyca

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^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛsɪkə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Proper noun

Jessica (plural Jessicas)

1. 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

a female given name

• Arabic: جِيسِيكَا f (jesikā)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傑西卡／杰西卡 (zh) (Jiéxīkǎ)

• Danish: Jessica
• Esperanto: Jiska
• Finnish: Jessika (fi)
• French: Jessica (fr)
• German: Jessica (de)
• Greek: Ιεσική (Iesikí)

  Ancient Greek: Ἰεσχά (Ieskhá)

• Hindi: जेसिका (jesikā)
• Hungarian: Dzsesszika (hu)
• Inuktitut: ᔨᔅᓯᑲ (yissika)
• Italian: Jessica (it) f
• Japanese: ジェシカ (Jeshika)
• Korean: 제시카 (Jesika)
• Marathi: जेसिका f (jesikā)
• Polish: Dżesika (pl) f, Jessica (pl) f
• Portuguese: Jéssica (pt) f
• Russian: Дже́ссика (ru) f (Džéssika)
• Spanish: Jéssica (es), Jésica, Yésica (es), Yéssica, Jesica (es), Yessica (es)
• Swedish: Jessica (sv), Jessika (sv)
• Thai: เจสสิกา

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Jessica.

Proper noun

Jessica

1. a female given name

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jessica.

Danish

Etymology

Recently borrowed from English Jessica.

Proper noun

Jessica

1. a female given name

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒɛ.si.ka/, /ʒe.si.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Jessica f

1. a female given name

German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Jessica

1. a female given name

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Jessica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʐɛˈsi.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ika
• Syllabification: Je‧ssi‧ca
• Homophone: Dżesika

Proper noun

Jessica f

1. Alternative spelling of Dżesika

Declension

Declension of Jessica

	singular	plural
nominative	Jessica	Jessiki
genitive	Jessiki	Jessic
dative	Jessice	Jessicom
accusative	Jessicę	Jessiki
instrumental	Jessicą	Jessicami
locative	Jessice	Jessicach
vocative	Jessico	Jessiki

Further reading

• Jessica in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Jessica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xeˈsika/ [xeˈsi.ka]
• Rhymes: -ika
• Syllabification: Jes‧si‧ca

Proper noun

Jessica f

1. 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)

1. a female given name