cosa

See also: Cosa, cósa, and cosà

Aragonese

FWOTD – 8 January 2016

Etymology

From Latin causa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkosa/
• Rhymes: -osa
• Syllabification: co‧sa

Noun

cosa f (plural cosas)

1. thing (that which exists as a separate entity)
   • 2010, Academia de l’Aragonés, Propuesta ortografica de l'Academia de l'Aragonés, 2nd edition, Edacar, page 67:

     Nombres propios d’animals, cosas y conceptos singularizaus: […]

     Proper names of animals, things and singularised concepts: […]

Pronoun

cosa

1. nothing (not any thing)
   • May-August 2014, Fuellas, Consello d’a Fabla Aragonesa, page 26:

     Respondioron: muito 0,00 % / prou 33,3 % / poco 66,7 % / cosa 0,00 %

     They answered: a lot 0.00% / enough 33.3% / a little 66.7% / nothing 0.00%

Asturian

Alternative forms

• cousa (Western Asturian)

Etymology

From Old Leonese cosa.

Noun

cosa f (plural coses)

1. thing

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin causa. Compare Occitan causa and chausa, French chose, Spanish cosa, Italian cosa. Doublet of causa, a borrowing from Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈkɔ.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈkɔ.za]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cosa f (plural coses)

1. thing
2. affair, matter

Derived terms

• alguna cosa
• coseta
• qualsevol cosa

Pronoun

cosa

1. (Alghero, Italianism) what (interrogative)

   Cosa voleu? ― What do you want?

Usage notes

• The Italianism cosa? ('what?') is found within Algherese and is commonly used by speakers thereof, but is deemed by the IEC as something to be avoided.

See also

• qui cosa
• per cosa
• percosa

References

• “cosa” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “cosa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “cosa” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cosa” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• El Català de l'Alguer : un model d'àmbit restringit, Barcelona, 2003, →ISBN, page 33

Galician

Verb

cosa

1. inflection of coser:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Interlingua

Noun

cosa (plural cosas)

1. thing

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Connacht) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔsˠə/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌsˠə/

Noun

cosa f pl

1. nominative/dative plural of cos

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cosa	chosa	gcosa
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Istriot

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin or Late Latin coxa (“thigh”), from Latin coxa (“hip”).

Noun

cosa f

1. thigh

Italian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin causa. Doublet of the borrowing causa. The pronoun is a clipping of che cosa.

Pronunciation

• (Central and Southern Italy) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.za/, (traditional) /ˈkɔ.sa/
  • Rhymes: -ɔza, (traditional) -ɔsa
• (northern Italy) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.za/

  • Audio (Northern):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɔza
• (northern Italy, dialects) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.sa/
  • Rhymes: -ɔsa
• Hyphenation: cò‧sa

Noun

cosa f (plural cose)

1. thing, matter

Pronoun

cosa

1. what?
2. what!

Derived terms

• che cosa
• Cosa Nostra
• qualcosa

 

Anagrams

• caos, caso, osca

Old French

Noun

cosa oblique singular, f (oblique plural cosas, nominative singular cosa, nominative plural cosas)

1. (very early Old French) Alternative form of chose

Usage notes

• Used in the Oaths of Strasbourg

Old Leonese

Alternative forms

• cousa (Bierzo, Cepeda; Western León)

Etymology

From Latin causa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkosa/

Noun

cosa m (plural cosas)

1. thing
   • 1017, Fuero de León:

     Mandamos que nengunno non sea ossado de tomar neguna cosa per roba dela yglesia;

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1243, Venta de una heredad en Villar (Cepeda)‎^[1]:

     de la gram cousa ata la pechena

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1247, Fuero de Campumanes‎^[2]:

     Conuszuda cosa sea a todos los omes

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1256, "El abad del Montasterio de Espinareda concede fueros a los pobladores de Outero de Langre."‎^[3]:

     Conoçuda cousa sea a quantos esta carta viren e audiren

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• Asturian: cosa, cousa
• Leonese: cousa
• Mirandese: cousa

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin causa. Cognates include Middle English cause, Old French chose, Old Galician-Portuguese cousa, Italian cosa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkoza/

Noun

cosa

1. thing

Descendants

• Ladino: koza
• Spanish: cosa

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈko.zɐ/

• Homophones: coza, cousa
• Rhymes: -ozɐ
• Hyphenation: co‧sa

Verb

cosa

1. inflection of coser:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Sicilian

Etymology

From Latin causa. Compare Italian cosa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.sa/
• Rhymes: -ɔsa
• Hyphenation: cò‧sa

Noun

cosa f (plural cosi)

1. thing

Further reading

• Traina, Antonino (1868) “cosa”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, pages 994–997

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkosa/ [ˈko.sa]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -osa
• Syllabification: co‧sa

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish cosa, inherited from Latin causa. Doublet of the borrowing causa. Cognates include French chose, Italian cosa, Portuguese coisa.

Noun

cosa f (plural cosas)

1. thing (object, concept)
2. (informal) thing (living being or creature)

   cosas hermosas ― pretty [little] things

Alternative forms

• coso (dialectal, for masculine nouns)

Derived terms

• cosilla (diminutive)
• cosita (diminutive)

• alguna cosa
• arroz con cosas
• como si tal cosa
• cosa de
• cosa del otro jueves
• cosa en sí
• cosa juzgada
• cosa rara
• cosas del mundo
• cosas que van y vienen
• cosas veredes
• estado de cosas
• Internet de las cosas
• llamar las cosas por su nombre
• poca cosa
• poquita cosa
• qué cosa
• una cosa es predicar, y otra dar trigo

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cosa

1. inflection of coser:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “cosa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16