parco

• IPA^(key): /ˈpar.ko/
• Rhymes: -arko
• Hyphenation: pàr‧co

Borrowed from Latin parcus.

parco (feminine parca, masculine plural parchi, feminine plural parche)

1. frugal, moderate, temperate, sparing

   Synonyms: frugale, parsimonioso, sobrio

   Antonyms: dissoluto, sprecone

• parcamente
• parchezza

• parco¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

From Old French parc. First attested in the 14th c.^[1]

parco m (plural parchi)

1. park, garden

   Synonyms: area verde, giardino, riserva, verde pubblico

• → Greek: πάρκο (párko)
• → Sardinian: parcu

• parco² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

parco

1. first-person singular present indicative of parcare

• -carpo, capro, carpo, carpo-, copra, porca

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpar.koː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpar.ko]

Disputed. According to De Vaan, from Proto-Italic *pe-arkō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“off”) + *h₂erk- (“to hold, guard”) (whence arceō).^[1] The linguist Michael Weiss suggests that the Proto-Indo-European compound *pe-h₂erk- became *pe-h₂ark-, then *peh₂ark-, whence *pah₂ark-, which became *pārk-, and then *park- via Osthoff's law. Weiss suggests that the pre-form *pe-h₂erk- may also be continued by Hittite 𒁉𒂊𒄯𒍣 (pé-e-ḫar-zi)^[2] The LIV, however, derives the term from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥k-é-ti, itself from the putative root *perk-.^[3] De Vaan rejects this theory, arguing that it is semantically unconvincing.^[1]

Others make it cognate with Ancient Greek σπαρνός (sparnós, “rare”), English spare.(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

See also parcus.

parcō (present infinitive parcere, perfect active pepercī or parsī, supine parsum); third conjugation

1. (+ dative or accusative) to spare, save up, economise

   Synonym: reservo

2. (figuratively, + dative) to forgive someone, have mercy for, to be lenient to

   Synonyms: ignōscō, āmittō, remittō, dōnō, dīmittō, perdōnō, condōnō

   • c. 50 BCE, Publilius Syrus, Sententiae:

     Bonīs nocet quisquis pepercit malīs.

     He does harm to the good, whoever has been lenient to the bad

   • Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti:

     victorque omnibus veniam petentibus civibus peperci.

     ... and victorious, I spared all the citizens desiring pardon.

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.28:

     Non aetate confectis, non mulieribus, non infantibus pepercerunt

     They spared neither old men, women, or children

   • Thomas of Celano, Dies Irae:

     Huic ergo parce, Deus

     Then spare him, O God

3. to let alone, omit

   Synonyms: praetereō, omittō, permittō, āmittō, remittō, neglegō

4. (+ dative or a/ab + ablative) to refrain, abstain, avoid

   Synonyms: ēvādō, ēlūdō, vītō, ēvītō, dētrectō, refugiō, exeō, āversor, abstineō, dēclīnō, fugiō

   Antonyms: dēstinō, intendō, tendō, petō, quaerō, affectō, studeō, spectō, circumspiciō

• Perfect parsī is ante-Classical or post-Classical. Perfect parcuī and future participle parcitūrus are found rarely.

¹At least one use of the Old Latin "sigmatic future" and "sigmatic aorist" tenses is attested, which are used by Old Latin writers; most notably Plautus and Terence. The sigmatic future is generally ascribed a future or future perfect meaning, while the sigmatic aorist expresses a possible desire ("might want to").

• Italian: parcere
• → Basque: barkatu
• → Spanish: parcir

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

parcō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of parcus

• parco in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2026), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• “parco”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “parco”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “parco”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to spare no pains: labori, operae non parcere
    
  • to incur few expenses: sumptui parcere (Fam. 16. 4)
    
• Walde, Alois; Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954), “parco”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 256
• Ernout, Alfred; Meillet, Antoine (1985), “parcō”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots‎^[4] (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 482

From Latin parcus.^[1][2]

• Hyphenation: par‧co

parco (feminine parca, masculine plural parcos, feminine plural parcas)

1. scarce

   Synonym: escasso

   Antonym: abundante

   • 1977, Clarice Lispector, A hora da estrela [The Hour of the Star]:

     Aliás o material de que disponho é parco e singelo demais, as informações sobre os personagens são poucas e não muito elucidativas, informações essas que penosamente me vêm de mim para mim mesmo, é trabalho de carpintaria.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. parsimonious, thrifty, economical, frugal

   Synonyms: parcimonioso, econômico

• “parco”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

From Latin parcus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpaɾko/ [ˈpaɾ.ko]
• Rhymes: -aɾko
• Syllabification: par‧co

parco (feminine parca, masculine plural parcos, feminine plural parcas)

1. frugal

   Synonym: frugal

• “parco”, 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