alfalfa

alfalfa

See also: Alfalfa

English

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁éḱwos

From Spanish alfalfa, from early form alfalfez, from Arabic الْفِصْفِصَة‎ (al-fiṣfiṣa), الْفَصْفَصَة‎ (al-faṣfaṣa, “alfalfa, lucerne”, literally “horse-food”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ælˈfælfə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

alfalfa (countable and uncountable, plural alfalfas)

1. (uncountable) A plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.

   Synonym: (British) lucerne

2. (countable) A type or breed of this plant.

Derived terms

• Alfalfa
• alfalfa butterfly
• Alfalfa County
• alfalfa weevil

 

Descendants

• → Irish: alfalfa
• → Welsh: alffalffa

Translations

Medicago sativa

Abaza: хмачвыкӏ (xmaćʷəkʼ) Arabic: فَصْفَص‎ m (faṣfaṣ) Aramaic: Jewish Aramaic: אַסְפַּסְתָּא‎ f (ʾaspastā) Classical Syriac: ܐܰܣܦܷܣܬܳܐ‎ f (ʾaspestā) Armenian: առվույտ (hy) (aṙvuyt), ասպաստ (hy) (aspast) Bulgarian: люцерна (bg) (ljucerna) Catalan: alfals (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 苜蓿 (zh) (mùxu), 紫花苜蓿 (zǐhuā mùxu) Czech: vojtěška f Dutch: luzerne (nl) Esperanto: luzerno Finnish: sinimailanen (fi), alfalfa (fi) French: luzerne (fr) f Georgian: იონჯა (ionǯa), ალავერდი (alaverdi) (dialectal) German: Luzerne (de) f, Alfalfa (de) f Hebrew: אספסת‎ (he) f (aspéset) Hungarian: lucerna (hu) Irish: alfalfa m4 Italian: erba medica f Japanese: アルファルファ (arufarufa), ルーサン (rūsan), ムラサキウマゴヤシ (murasaki uma-goyashi), モクシュク (mokushuku) Kabardian: тхьэкӏищ лӏэужьыгъуэ (tḥekʼiiś lˢʼewuźəğʷe) Kalmyk: царһс (tsarğs) Lakota: waȟpé pȟeží Latin: mēdica (la) f Macedonian: лу́церка f (lúcerka) Mongolian: Cyrillic: таримал царгас (tarimal cargas) Navajo: tłʼoh waaʼí Norman: lûzèrne f (Jersey) Persian: یونجه‎ (fa), اسپست‎ (espest, aspest) Plautdietsch: Alfalfa n Polish: lucerna (pl) f Portuguese: alfafa (pt) f Romanian: lucernă (ro) f Russian: люце́рна (ru) f (ljucérna) Serbo-Croatian: lucerna (sh) f, lucerka (sh) f, alfalfa f Slovak: lucerna f, alfalfa f Slovene: lucerna f Spanish: alfalfa (es) f, mielga f Swedish: blålusern c Tagalog: alpapa Turkish: yonca (tr) Uyghur: بېدە‎ (bëde) Venetian: spagna (vec) f Welsh: alffalffa m Yiddish: לוצערן‎ (lutsern)

Further reading

• alfalfa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Medicago sativa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Medicago sativa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• alfalfa at USDA Plants database
• alfalfa at Integrated Taxonomic Information System.

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Finnish

Etymology

From Spanish alfalfa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑlfɑlfɑ/, [ˈɑlfɑlfɑ]
• Rhymes: -ɑlfɑlfɑ
• Syllabification^(key): al‧fal‧fa

Noun

alfalfa

1. alfalfa

Declension

Inflection of alfalfa (Kotus type 9/kala, no gradation)
nominative		alfalfa	alfalfat
genitive		alfalfan	alfalfojen
partitive		alfalfaa	alfalfoja
illative		alfalfaan	alfalfoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		alfalfa	alfalfat
accusative	nom.	alfalfa	alfalfat
	gen.	alfalfan
genitive		alfalfan	alfalfojen alfalfainrare
partitive		alfalfaa	alfalfoja
inessive		alfalfassa	alfalfoissa
elative		alfalfasta	alfalfoista
illative		alfalfaan	alfalfoihin
adessive		alfalfalla	alfalfoilla
ablative		alfalfalta	alfalfoilta
allative		alfalfalle	alfalfoille
essive		alfalfana	alfalfoina
translative		alfalfaksi	alfalfoiksi
instructive		—	alfalfoin
abessive		alfalfatta	alfalfoitta
comitative		—	alfalfoineen

Possessive forms of alfalfa (type kala)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	alfalfani	alfalfamme
2nd person	alfalfasi	alfalfanne
3rd person	alfalfansa

Synonyms

• sinimailanen

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Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English alfalfa, from Spanish alfalfa.

Noun

alfalfa m (genitive singular alfalfa)

1. alfalfa, lucerne (Medicago sativa)

Declension

Declension of alfalfa

Fourth declension

Bare forms (no plural of this noun) Case Singular Nominative alfalfa Vocative a alfalfa Genitive alfalfa Dative alfalfa

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Nominative an t-alfalfa Genitive an alfalfa Dative leis an alfalfa don alfalfa

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
alfalfa	n-alfalfa	halfalfa	t-alfalfa
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “alfalfa”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• alfalfez (Argentina)

Etymology

From Arabic الْفِصْفِصَة‎ (al-fiṣfiṣa), الْفَصْفَصَة‎ (al-faṣfaṣa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈfalfa/ [alˈfal.fa]
• Rhymes: -alfa
• Syllabification: al‧fal‧fa

Noun

alfalfa f (plural alfalfas)

1. alfalfa

Derived terms

• agua de alfalfa
• alfalfar

 

Descendants

• → English: alfalfa
  • → Irish: alfalfa
  • → Welsh: alffalffa

Verb

alfalfa

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

Further reading

• “alfalfa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014