balsa

Borrowed from Spanish balsa, from Paleo-Hispanic, probably Basque [Term?] or Iberian [Term?]. Not related to balsam.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːl.sə/, /ˈbæl.sə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑlsə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

balsa (countable and uncountable, plural balsas)

1. A large tree, Ochroma pyramidale, native to tropical America, with wood that is very light in weight.
2. (uncountable) The wood of this tree.
3. A raft or float, used principally on the Pacific coast of South America.

• → Irish: balsa

• balsa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• balsa tree on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Labas, basal, balas, Baals, laabs, blaas, albas, baals, Baʿals, sabal, Ba'als, LABAs

• IPA^(key): /balˈsa/ [bʌlˈsʌ]
• Hyphenation: bal‧sa

balsá f

1. reputation

Inherited from Spanish balsa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbalsa/, [ˈbal.sa]
• Hyphenation: bal‧sa

balsa

1. raft

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Spanish balsa?”)

balsa

1. wooden boat

From Spanish balsa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑlsɑ/, [ˈbɑ̝ls̠ɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑlsɑ
• Syllabification^(key): bal‧sa
• Hyphenation^(key): bal‧sa

balsa

1. balsa (wood)

• “balsa”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• slaba

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Spanish balsa?”)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

balsa m (plural balsas)

1. balsa (tree, wood)

• “balsa”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Attested since circa 1300. From Paleo-Hispanic.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbalsɐ]

balsa f (plural balsas)

1. raft; also raft-like group of trunks which are left to flow downriver
2. dam
3. balsa (tree)
4. balsa (wood)

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “balsa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “balsa”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “balsa”, 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), “balsa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “balsa”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Borrowed from English balsa, from Spanish balsa.

balsa m (genitive singular balsa)

1. balsa (tree, wood)

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “balsa”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

From Proto-Samic *pëlsë (whence also Inari Sami polssâ), of unknown further origin. Probably ultimately from a substrate.

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpalːsa/

balsa

1. palsa, mound, tussock

Even a-stem, ls-lss gradation
Nominative	balsa
Genitive	balssa
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	balsa	balssat
Accusative	balssa	balssaid
Genitive	balssa	balssaid
Illative	balsii	balssaide
Locative	balssas	balssain
Comitative	balssain	balssaiguin
Essive	balsan
Possessive forms Singular Dual Plural 1st person balsan balsame balsamet 2nd person balsat balsade balsadet 3rd person balsas balsaska balsaset

• → Finnish: palsa
  • → English: palsa
• Swedish: pals
  • Norwegian Bokmål: pals

• Eino Koponen, Klaas Ruppel, Kirsti Aapala, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[2], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Borrowed from Spanish balsa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbal.sa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alsa
• Syllabification: bal‧sa

balsa f (related adjective balsowy)

1. balsa (Ochroma pyramidale)
2. balsa (wood of this tree)

• “balsa”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “balsa”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)

Borrowed from Spanish balsa.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -alsɐ, (Brazil) -awsɐ
• Hyphenation: bal‧sa

balsa f (plural balsas)

1. raft
2. ferry

   Synonym: ferryboat

• “balsa”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “balsa”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French balsa.

balsa m (uncountable)

1. balsa

From Paleo-Hispanic, probably Basque [Term?] or Iberian [Term?].

• IPA^(key): /ˈbalsa/ [ˈbal.sa]
• Rhymes: -alsa
• Syllabification: bal‧sa

balsa f (plural balsas)

1. raft
2. ferry
3. balsa (tree)
4. puddle, pool, pond

   Synonym: charco

• → English: balsa
  • → Irish: balsa
• → Portuguese: balsa
• → Tagalog: balsa

• “balsa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from Spanish balsa.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /balˈsa/ [bɐlˈsa]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: bal‧sa

balsá (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜎ᜔ᜐ)

1. raft

• labas, salba, sabal, salab, balas

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Spanish balsa?”)

balsa

1. raft