Esca
//ˈɛskə// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The fleshy growth from an anglerfish's head that acts as a lure for its prey.
- 2 A traditional Galician unit of dry measure, equivalent to about 6–9 L depending on the substance measured. historical
- 3 Initialism of electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 4 A fungal disease afflicting grapes.
- 5 A kind of measuring cup once used for measuring escas of grain. historical
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Latin ēsca (“bait”).
Etymology 2
From Galician escá, from Hispanic Late Latin scala (“bowl”) attested in Isidore of Seville, probably from Suevic, from Proto-Germanic *skēlō (“bowl”). Cognate with German Schale and Dutch schaal.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.