alpaca

See also: Alpacca and alpacca

English

Geographic distribution
of the alpaca

An alpaca (Vicugna pacos)

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ælˈpækə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækə

Noun

alpaca (countable and uncountable, plural alpacas or alpaca)

1. A sheep-like domesticated animal of the Andes, Vicugna pacos, in the camel family, closely related to the llama, guanaco, and vicuña.
   • 1989, Octavia E. Butler, “Part III, Chapter 7”, in Imago, page 210:

     Away from the village, there was an enclosure containing several large animals of a kind I had not seen before—shaggy, long-necked, small-headed creatures who stood or lay at ease around their pen. Alpacas?

2. (uncountable) Wool from the alpaca, with strong very long fibres and coloring from black to brown to white.
   • 1918 [1915], Thomas Burke, Nights in London‎^[1], New York: Henry Holt and Company:

     A lady in frayed alpaca, carrying a house-flannel, came to hearken.

3. A garment made of such wool.
   • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:

     The dress was at the bottom, — it was an alpaca, of a pretty shade in blue, bedecked with lace and ribbons, as is the fashion of the hour, and lined with sea-green silk.

Synonyms

• alpaco, paco (archaic)

Coordinate terms

• (Camelids) camelid; camel (dromedary, Bactrian camel), llama, guanaco, alpaca, vicuna/vicuña ^{(Category: en:Camelids)}

Descendants

• → Gujarati: અલ્પાકા (alpākā)
• → Thai: อัลปากา (an-bpaa-gâa)

Translations

camelid animal of the Andes

• Afrikaans: alpakka, skaapkameel
• Arabic: أَلْبَكَة f (ʔalbaka)
• Armenian: ալպակա (hy) (alpaka)
• Assamese: এল্পেকা (elpeka)
• Asturian: alpaca (ast)
• Aymara: allpaqa
• Belarusian: альпа́ка m or f (alʹpáka)
• Bulgarian: алпа́ка f (alpáka)
• Catalan: alpaca (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: ^{(please verify)} 草泥馬 / 草泥马 (cou² nai⁴ maa⁵)

  Mandarin: 羊駝 / 羊驼 (zh) (yángtuó), 美洲駝 / 美洲驼 (Měizhōutuó), 無峰駝 / 无峰驼 (wúfēngtuó), 草泥馬 / 草泥马 (zh) (cǎonímǎ) (slang)

• Czech: alpaka (cs) f
• Danish: alpaka c
• Dutch: alpaca (nl) m
• Esperanto: alpako
• Faroese: alpaka f
• Finnish: alpakka (fi)
• French: alpaga (fr) m
• Georgian: ალპაკა (alṗaḳa)
• German: Alpaka (de) n, Alpakahengst m, Alpakastute f
• Greek: αλπάκα (el) f (alpáka)
• Gujarati: અલ્પાકા (alpākā)
• Hungarian: alpaka (hu)
• Ido: alpako (io)
• Interlingua: alpaca
• Irish: alpaca m
• Italian: alpaca (it) m
• Japanese: アルパカ (ja) (arupaka)
• Korean: 알파카 (ko) (alpaka)
• Lao: ອູດແກະ (ʼūt kæ)
• Latin: Lama pacos
• Macedonian: алпака f (alpaka)
• Maori: āpaka
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: alpakka (no) m

  Nynorsk: alpakka m

• Persian: آلپاکا (fa) (âlpâkâ)
• Polish: alpaka (pl) f
• Portuguese: alpaca (pt) f
• Quechua: allpaqa
• Romanian: alpaca (ro) f
• Russian: альпа́ка (ru) m or f (alʹpáka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: alpaka f

• Slovene: alpaka (sl) f
• Spanish: alpaca (es) f
• Swedish: alpacka (sv) c
• Tagalog: alpaka
• Thai: อัลปากา (an-bpaa-gâa)
• Turkish: alpaka (tr)
• Ukrainian: альпа́ка (uk) m or f (alʹpáka)
• Vietnamese: alpaca (vi), lạc đà alpaca, lạc đà cừu
• Volapük: läpak

wool

• Afrikaans: lamawol
• Armenian: ալպակա (hy) (alpaka)
• Finnish: alpakka (fi)
• Greek: αλπακάς (el) m (alpakás)
• Irish: olann alpaca f
• Polish: alpaka (pl) f

Further reading

• alpaca on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Vicugna pacos on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əlˈpa.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [alˈpa.ka]

Noun

alpaca f (plural alpaques)

1. alpaca (animal, fiber, and textile)
2. nickel silver

   Synonyms: argentan, plata alemanya

Further reading

• “alpaca” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑlˈpaː.kaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧pa‧ca

Noun

alpaca m (plural alpaca's, diminutive alpacaatje n)

1. alpaca

Derived terms

• alpacawol

See also

• lama

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish, possibly via English, from Aymara allpaqa.

Noun

alpaca m (genitive singular alpaca, nominative plural alpacaí)

1. alpaca

Declension

Declension of alpaca (fourth declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative alpaca alpacaí vocative a alpaca a alpacaí genitive alpaca alpacaí dative alpaca alpacaí forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an t-alpaca na halpacaí genitive an alpaca na n-alpacaí dative leis an alpaca don alpaca leis na halpacaí

Derived terms

• olann alpaca f (“alpaca wool”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of alpaca

radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
alpaca	n-alpaca	halpaca	not applicable

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

Further reading

• “alpaca”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2024

Italian

Alternative forms

• alpaga, alpagà

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈpa.ka/, (traditional) /ˈal.pa.ka/
• Rhymes: -aka, (traditional) -alpaka
• Hyphenation: al‧pà‧ca, (traditional) àl‧pa‧ca

Noun

alpaca m (invariable)

1. alpaca (Vicugna pacos)
2. (uncountable) alpaca (wool)
3. (uncountable) a fabric made out of a mixture of wool and cotton

Further reading

• alpaca in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /awˈpa.kɐ/ [aʊ̯ˈpa.kɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /awˈpa.kɐ/ [aʊ̯ˈpa.kɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /awˈpa.ka/ [aʊ̯ˈpa.ka]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /alˈpa.kɐ/ [aɫˈpa.kɐ]

• Rhymes: -akɐ
• Hyphenation: al‧pa‧ca

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

Noun

alpaca f (plural alpacas)

1. alpaca (Vicugna pacos, a camelid of the Andes)
2. alpaca (wool from the alpaca)

Coordinate terms

• (Camelids) camelídeo; camelo (dromedário, camelo-bactriano), lhama / lama, guanaco, alpaca, vicunha ^{(Category: pt:Camelids)}

Etymology 2

Noun

alpaca f (uncountable)

1. nickel silver (alloy of copper, zinc and nickel)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French alpaga, alpaca, from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.paˈka/
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: al‧pa‧ca

Noun

alpaca f (plural alpacale)

1. alpaca (animal)
2. alpaca (wool)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	alpaca	alpacaua		alpacale	alpacalele
genitive-dative	alpacale	alpacalei		alpacale	alpacalelor
vocative	alpaca			alpacalelor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Aymara allpaqa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈpaka/ [alˈpa.ka]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aka
• Syllabification: al‧pa‧ca

Noun

alpaca f (plural alpacas)

1. alpaca

Coordinate terms

• (Camelids) camélido; camello (dromedario, camello bactriano), llama, guanaco, alpaca, vicuña ^{(Category: es:Camelids)}

Derived terms

• alpaquero

 

Descendants

All borrowings ultimately from Spanish, though for some direct paths are uncertain.

• → Afrikaans: alpakka
• → Arabic: أَلْبَكَة (ʔalbaka)
• → Armenian: ալպակա (alpaka)
• → Belarusian: альпака (alʹpaka)
• → Catalan: alpaca
• → Czech: alpaka
• → Danish: alpaka
• → Dutch: alpaca
• → English: alpaca
  • → Gujarati: અલ્પાકા (alpākā)
  • → Thai: อัลปากา (an-bpaa-gâa)
• → French: alpaga
  • → Polish: alpaga
  • → Romanian: alpaca
  • → Russian: альпага (alʹpaga)
    • → Armenian: ալպագա (alpaga)
• → Faroese: alpaka
• → Finnish: alpakka
• → Georgian: ალპაკა (alṗaḳa)
• → German: Alpaka
• → Greek: αλπάκα (alpáka)
• → Hungarian: alpaka
• → Irish: alpaca (possibly via English)
• → Italian: alpaca
• → Japanese: アルパカ (arupaka)
• → Korean: 알파카 (alpaka)
• → Macedonian: алпака (alpaka)
• → Norwegian: alpakka
• → Persian: آلپاکا (âlpâkâ)
• → Polish: alpaka
• → Portuguese: alpaca
• → Russian: альпака (alʹpaka)
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: алпака
  • Latin script: alpaka
• → Slovene: alpaca
• → Swedish: alpacka
• → Tagalog: alpaka
• → Ukrainian: альпака (alʹpaka)

Further reading

• “alpaca”, 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