palla

See also: Palla and pallá

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian palla (“ball”). Doublet of ball.

Noun

palla (uncountable)

1. A traditional Tuscan ball game played in the street.

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin palla. Doublet of pall.

Noun

palla (plural pallae)

1. (historical) A rectangular piece of cloth worn by ladies in Ancient Rome and fastened with brooches.

Further reading

• Palla on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Aymara

Noun

palla

1. woman

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan palla, from Latin palea, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“flour, dust”). Compare Occitan palha, French paille, Italian paglia, Sicilian pagghia, Spanish paja.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpa.ʎə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpa.ʎa]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

palla f (plural palles)

1. straw, hay
2. drinking straw

   Synonym: canya

3. (of gems, metal) flaw
4. (of writing) padding

Derived terms

• despallar
• empallar
• pallada
• pallejar
• paller
• pallera
• pallissa
• palló
• pallol
• pallola
• pallós
• pallot
• pallús

References

• “palla” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “palla”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “palla” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “palla” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Palla

Alternative forms

• palha (reintegrationist)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese palha (Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin palea. Cognate with Portuguese palha, Asturian paya and Spanish paja.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpaʎa̝/

Noun

palla f (plural pallas)

1. (countable) a straw
2. (uncountable) straw
   • 1409, José Luis Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 61:

     Jtem. deue o potro comer feo, palla, herua, orio, auea, espelqa, que quer dizer melga, et as qousas semellauelles a esto, que naturalmente som para seu comer.

     Item. The foal must eat hay, straw, grass, barley, oat, spelt —that is, melga— and things that are similar to these, which are naturally for them to eat

   • 1439, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI, Vigo: Galaxia, page 418:

     e da cárrega de palla, un diñeiro e do carro da casqa, duas brancas

     for a load of hay, [they shall pay] a diñeiro, and by a cartload of bark, two brancas

3. (uncountable) chaff
   • 1276, M. Lucas Álvarez, P. Lucas Dominguez, editors, El monasterio de San Clodio do Ribeiro en la Edad Media: estudio y documentos, Sada / A Coruña: Edicións do Castro, page 375:

     et este pan deue a seer qual o Deus der no logar et seer linpo de palla et de poo, d'eruellada et de mosceyra, et deue a seer ben seco et ben linpo et bõõ pan

     and this grain must be that that God gives at that place, and it must be clean of chaff and dust, of vetch and fodder, and it must be well dry and well clean and good grain

4. (informal, vulgar) a wank

Derived terms

• espallar
• palla perra
• palleiro
• palloza
• un palleiro non se fai sen palla

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “palla”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “palla”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “palla”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “palla”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “palla”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
• “palla”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpalla/
• Rhymes: -la, -a
• Hyphenation: pal‧la

Noun

palla (plural palla-palla)

1. (Catholicism) Alternative spelling of pala

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpal.la/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alla
• Hyphenation: pàl‧la

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin balla, palla, bala, from Frankish *ballu, from Proto-Germanic *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“bubble”), from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”). Alternatively, via Lombardic *palla, from Proto-Germanic *ballô, from the same ultimate origin. Compare Sicilian baḍḍa.

Noun

palla f (plural palle)

1. (sports) ball (object used for playing games)
2. ball (solid or hollow sphere)
3. (historical, firearms) bullet, shot

   Hypernym: proiettile

4. (usually in the plural, vulgar) testicles

   Synonyms: (vulgar) coglione, testicolo

5. (informal, figurative) something dull or boring

   Che palle!

   What a drag!

6. (colloquial) lie

   Synonym: bugia

7. (heraldry) circle-shaped charge

Derived terms

• pallone

Related terms

• impallare
• palla da golf
• pallabase
• pallacanestro
• pallamano
• pallanuoto
• pallata
• pallavolo
• palleggiare
• pallina
• palloncino
• pallone
• pallottola
• rimpallare

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin palla, of uncertain origin.

Noun

palla f (plural palle)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) palla (cloth worn by ladies)

Related terms

• pallio

Etymology 3

Perhaps an extension in sense of the above lemma.

Noun

palla f (plural palle)

1. (Catholicism) a cloth used to cover a chalice during services

Further reading

• palla¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• palla² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• palla³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *palasā, from Proto-Indo-European *pĺ̥h₂seh₂, cognate to Hittite 𒉺𒆷𒄴𒊭𒀸 (pa-la-aḫ-ša-aš, “female garment”). This etymology was originally proposed by Stefan Höfler and is accepted as convincing by Blanca María Prósper.

No etymology is decided on by De Vaan, who floats possibilities like Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; skin, hide; cloth”) (akin to pellis (“hide, pelt”)), or possibly a substrate loan.

Noun

palla f (genitive pallae); first declension

1. A rectangular piece of cloth worn by ladies in Ancient Rome and fastened with brooches.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	palla	pallae
genitive	pallae	pallārum
dative	pallae	pallīs
accusative	pallam	pallās
ablative	pallā	pallīs
vocative	palla	pallae

Related terms

• pallium

Descendants

• → English: palla (learned)
• → Italian: palla (learned)
  • → Indonesian: palla
  • → Maltese: palla
• → Romanian: pală (learned)
• → Proto-Brythonic: *pall
  • Middle Welsh: pall
    • Welsh: pall

Further reading

• “palla”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “palla”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "palla", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “palla”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “palla”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Maltese

Etymology

From Italian palla, from Latin palla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpal.la/

Noun

palla f (plural palel)

1. (Christianity) pallium

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• palle (e-infinitive)

Etymology

Related to Traveller Norwegian palla and Swedish palla, both with the same meaning.

Verb

palla (present tense pallar, past tense palla, past participle palla, passive infinitive pallast, present participle pallande, imperative palla/pall)

1. (slang) to bother to; to have the energy to, to feel up to

   Eg pallar tji gjøra det i dag for faen

   I don't feel up to do it today for fuck's sake

Synonyms

• gidde
• orke

Quechua

Noun

palla

1. lady, respected woman
2. female dancer

Declension

declension of palla

	singular	plural
nominative	palla	pallakuna
accusative	pallata	pallakunata
dative	pallaman	pallakunaman
genitive	pallap	pallakunap
locative	pallapi	pallakunapi
terminative	pallakama	pallakunakama
ablative	pallamanta	pallakunamanta
instrumental	pallawan	pallakunawan
comitative	pallantin	pallakunantin
abessive	pallannaq	pallakunannaq
comparative	pallahina	pallakunahina
causative	pallarayku	pallakunarayku
benefactive	pallapaq	pallakunapaq
associative	pallapura	pallakunapura
distributive	pallanka	pallakunanka
exclusive	pallalla	pallakunalla

possessive forms of palla

ñuqap - first-person singular

ñuqap (my)	singular	plural
nominative	pallay	pallaykuna
accusative	pallayta	pallaykunata
dative	pallayman	pallaykunaman
genitive	pallaypa	pallaykunap
locative	pallaypi	pallaykunapi
terminative	pallaykama	pallaykunakama
ablative	pallaymanta	pallaykunamanta
instrumental	pallaywan	pallaykunawan
comitative	pallaynintin	pallaykunantin
abessive	pallayninnaq	pallaykunannaq
comparative	pallayhina	pallaykunahina
causative	pallayrayku	pallaykunarayku
benefactive	pallaypaq	pallaykunapaq
associative	pallaypura	pallaykunapura
distributive	pallayninka	pallaykunanka
exclusive	pallaylla	pallaykunalla

qampa - second-person singular

qampa (your)	singular	plural
nominative	pallayki	pallaykikuna
accusative	pallaykita	pallaykikunata
dative	pallaykiman	pallaykikunaman
genitive	pallaykipa	pallaykikunap
locative	pallaykipi	pallaykikunapi
terminative	pallaykikama	pallaykikunakama
ablative	pallaykimanta	pallaykikunamanta
instrumental	pallaykiwan	pallaykikunawan
comitative	pallaykintin	pallaykikunantin
abessive	pallaykinnaq	pallaykikunannaq
comparative	pallaykihina	pallaykikunahina
causative	pallaykirayku	pallaykikunarayku
benefactive	pallaykipaq	pallaykikunapaq
associative	pallaykipura	pallaykikunapura
distributive	pallaykinka	pallaykikunanka
exclusive	pallaykilla	pallaykikunalla

paypa - third-person singular

paypa (his/her/its)	singular	plural
nominative	pallan	pallankuna
accusative	pallanta	pallankunata
dative	pallanman	pallankunaman
genitive	pallanpa	pallankunap
locative	pallanpi	pallankunapi
terminative	pallankama	pallankunakama
ablative	pallanmanta	pallankunamanta
instrumental	pallanwan	pallankunawan
comitative	pallanintin	pallankunantin
abessive	pallanninnaq	pallankunannaq
comparative	pallanhina	pallankunahina
causative	pallanrayku	pallankunarayku
benefactive	pallanpaq	pallankunapaq
associative	pallanpura	pallankunapura
distributive	pallaninka	pallankunanka
exclusive	pallanlla	pallankunalla

ñuqanchikpa - first-person inclusive plural

ñuqanchikpa (our(incl))	singular	plural
nominative	pallanchik	pallanchikkuna
accusative	pallanchikta	pallanchikkunata
dative	pallanchikman	pallanchikkunaman
genitive	pallanchikpa	pallanchikkunap
locative	pallanchikpi	pallanchikkunapi
terminative	pallanchikkama	pallanchikkunakama
ablative	pallanchikmanta	pallanchikkunamanta
instrumental	pallanchikwan	pallanchikkunawan
comitative	pallanchiknintin	pallanchikkunantin
abessive	pallanchikninnaq	pallanchikkunannaq
comparative	pallanchikhina	pallanchikkunahina
causative	pallanchikrayku	pallanchikkunarayku
benefactive	pallanchikpaq	pallanchikkunapaq
associative	pallanchikpura	pallanchikkunapura
distributive	pallanchikninka	pallanchikkunanka
exclusive	pallanchiklla	pallanchikkunalla

ñuqaykup - first-person exclusive plural

ñuqaykup (our(excl))	singular	plural
nominative	pallayku	pallaykukuna
accusative	pallaykuta	pallaykukunata
dative	pallaykuman	pallaykukunaman
genitive	pallaykupa	pallaykukunap
locative	pallaykupi	pallaykukunapi
terminative	pallaykukama	pallaykukunakama
ablative	pallaykumanta	pallaykukunamanta
instrumental	pallaykuwan	pallaykukunawan
comitative	pallaykuntin	pallaykukunantin
abessive	pallaykunnaq	pallaykukunannaq
comparative	pallaykuhina	pallaykukunahina
causative	pallaykurayku	pallaykukunarayku
benefactive	pallaykupaq	pallaykukunapaq
associative	pallaykupura	pallaykukunapura
distributive	pallaykunka	pallaykukunanka
exclusive	pallaykulla	pallaykukunalla

qamkunap - second-person plural

qamkunap (your(pl))	singular	plural
nominative	pallaykichik	pallaykichikkuna
accusative	pallaykichikta	pallaykichikkunata
dative	pallaykichikman	pallaykichikkunaman
genitive	pallaykichikpa	pallaykichikkunap
locative	pallaykichikpi	pallaykichikkunapi
terminative	pallaykichikkama	pallaykichikkunakama
ablative	pallaykichikmanta	pallaykichikkunamanta
instrumental	pallaykichikwan	pallaykichikkunawan
comitative	pallaykichiknintin	pallaykichikkunantin
abessive	pallaykichikninnaq	pallaykichikkunannaq
comparative	pallaykichikhina	pallaykichikkunahina
causative	pallaykichikrayku	pallaykichikkunarayku
benefactive	pallaykichikpaq	pallaykichikkunapaq
associative	pallaykichikpura	pallaykichikkunapura
distributive	pallaykichikninka	pallaykichikkunanka
exclusive	pallaykichiklla	pallaykichikkunalla

paykunap - third-person plural

paykunap (their)	singular	plural
nominative	pallanku	pallankukuna
accusative	pallankuta	pallankukunata
dative	pallankuman	pallankukunaman
genitive	pallankupa	pallankukunap
locative	pallankupi	pallankukunapi
terminative	pallankukama	pallankukunakama
ablative	pallankumanta	pallankukunamanta
instrumental	pallankuwan	pallankukunawan
comitative	pallankuntin	pallankukunantin
abessive	pallankunnaq	pallankukunannaq
comparative	pallankuhina	pallankukunahina
causative	pallankurayku	pallankukunarayku
benefactive	pallankupaq	pallankukunapaq
associative	pallankupura	pallankukunapura
distributive	pallankunka	pallankukunanka
exclusive	pallankulla	pallankukunalla

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin palea.

Noun

palla f

1. (Campidanese) straw

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• padda

Etymology

From Italian palla (“ball”), see above.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpalːa/
• Hyphenation: pal‧la

Noun

palla f (plural palli)

1. ball

Spanish

Verb

palla

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

Swedish

Etymology 1

Derived from Swedish criminal cant pall (“apple”). Attested since 1898.

Verb

palla (present pallar, preterite pallade, supine pallat, imperative palla)

1. (colloquial) To scrump; to steal fruit, especially apples, from a garden or orchard.

   Synonyms: stjäla (“steal”), knycka (“nick”)

   Ska vi gå och palla från grannen?

   Shall we go scrumping from the neighbor?

Etymology 2

Affix of pall +‎ -ar, from stå pall (“stand firm”). Borrowed from Dutch pal staan, from Low German pall staan.

Interjection sense possibly an ellipsis of the negative pallar inte ("do not have energy/stamina/will").

Verb

palla (present pallar, preterite pallade, supine pallat, imperative palla)

1. (colloquial) To have enough strength, will, or stamina for something. [since 1912]

   Synonyms: (dialectal) gitta, idas, orka, (archaic) tya

   Pallar du en runda till?

   Do you have strength/energy for another round?

Conjugation

Conjugation of palla (weak)

	active		passive
infinitive	palla		pallas
supine	pallat		pallats
imperative	palla		—
imper. plural1	pallen		—
	present	past	present	past
indicative	pallar	pallade	pallas	pallades
ind. plural1	palla	pallade	pallas	pallades
subjunctive2	palle	pallade	palles	pallades
present participle		pallande
past participle		pallad

¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Derived terms

• palla tji

Interjection

palla

1. (colloquial, can be seen as rude) to not have enough strength, will or stamina; to not be bothered to

   – Ska vi gå på bio?
   – Palla!

   – Shall we go and watch a movie?
   – I don't have enough energy! / – I can't be bothered to!

References

• palla in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• palla in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pall in Svensk ordbok (SO)