bacallà

Meaning

cod

Gender

♂️ Masculine

Pronounced as (IPA)

[bə.kəˈʎa]

Etymology

From Dutch bakaliaw, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Latin baculum (“stick, staff”), referring to the way cod were split and dried on wooden sticks.
If the element *bak- is a metathesis of *kab- (compare French cabillaud and German Kabeljau from Dutch kabeljauw), then the original form of the word could have been *cabalao, maybe meaning "large-headed fish". First attested in 1640.
Cognate to Italian baccalà, Portuguese bacalhau, Spanish bacalao.