fossa

See also: Fossa, fossá, fossą, and Fossą

English

Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from Latin fossa (“a ditch, trench, fosse”). Doublet of fosse.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒ.sə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑ.sə/, /ˈfɔ.sə/
• Rhymes: -ɒsə, -ɑsə, -ɔsə

Noun

fossa (plural fossae or (obsolete) fossæ)

1. (anatomy) A pit, groove, cavity, or depression.

   Hyponyms: cubital fossa, fossa of Rosenmüller, glenoid fossa, iliac fossa, incisive fossa, infratemporal fossa, nasal fossa, piriform fossa, popliteal fossa, pterygopalatine fossa, rhomboid fossa, suprainiac fossa, temporal fossa

   Coordinate terms: fovea, sinus

2. (astronomy) A long, narrow, shallow depression on the body of an extraterrestrial body, such as a planet or moon.

Derived terms

• cerebral fossa
• pterygomaxillary fossa
• pyriform fossa
• sphenomaxillary fossa
• sphenopalatine fossa

 

Related terms

• fosse
• fossula
• fossulate

Translations

pit, groove, cavity

Bulgarian: трапчинка (bg) f (trapčinka), впадина f (vpadina) Chinese: Mandarin: 窩／窝 (zh) (wō) Czech: please add this translation if you can Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: kuoppa (fi), fossa (fi) German: Vertiefung (de) f Irish: log m, clais f Polish: dół (pl) Serbo-Croatian: ùdubina (sh) f Sicilian: fossu m, fossa f, pirtusu (scn) m Swedish: fossa c, fördjupning (sv) c

References

• fossa (anatomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

A fossa in a zoo in Texas, USA

Borrowing from Malagasy fosa which likely once referred to the Malayan weasel (Mustela nudipes) prior to a semantic shift,^[1] thus cognate with Malay pusak and Tagalog pusa both meaning "cat".

Pronunciation

• Approximation of Malagasy pronunciation [ˈfusə̥]:
  • (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈfuː.sə/, /ˈfʊ.sə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Spelling pronunciation according to English orthography:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒ.sə/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑ.sə/, /ˈfɔ.sə/
• Rhymes: -uːsə, -ʊsə, -ɒsə, -ɑsə, -ɔsə

Noun

fossa (plural fossas)

2. A large nocturnal reddish-brown catlike mammal (Cryptoprocta ferox) of the civet family, endemic to the rainforests of Madagascar. It is slender, long-tailed and has retractile claws and anal scent glands.

Descendants

• → Portuguese: fossa
• → Translingual: Fossa

Translations

Cryptoprocta ferox

Arabic: فوسا f (fōsa) Assamese: ফছা (phosa) Bulgarian: дългоопашата вивера f (dǎlgoopašata vivera) Chinese: Cantonese: 馬島狸／马岛狸 (maa5 dou2 lei4) Mandarin: 馬島長尾狸貓／马岛长尾狸猫 (Mǎdǎo chángwěilímāo), 馬島獴／马岛獴 (Mǎdǎo měng), 窩靈貓／窝灵猫 (wōlíngmāo), 隱肛狸／隐肛狸 (yǐngānglí) Czech: fosa (cs) f Dutch: fretkat (nl) c Esperanto: foso (eo) French: fossa (fr) m Georgian: ფოსა (posa) German: Fossa (de) f Hebrew: פוֹסָה (fosah) Hungarian: fossza Irish: fosa m Japanese: フォッサ (ja) (fossa) Korean: 포사 (posa) Malagasy: fosa (mg) Maltese: fossa f Norwegian: Norwegian Bokmål: fossa Norwegian Nynorsk: fossa Polish: fossa (pl) f Portuguese: fossa (pt) Russian: фо́сса (ru) f (fóssa) Slovak: fosa f Swedish: fossa c Turkish: fossa (tr)

References

• fossa (animal) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “fossa”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “fossa”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• 1. Blench, Roger, Walsh, Martin (2011) “Faunal names in Malagasy: their etymologies and implications for the prehistory of the East African coast”, in 11th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics‎, Aussois, France, pages 1–31

Anagrams

• sofas, Fasos, SOFAs

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin fossa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfo.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈfɔ.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfɔ.sa]

Noun

fossa f (plural fosses)

1. grave, pit

   fossa comuna ― mass grave

2. (anatomy, astronomy) fossa

Derived terms

• fossat
• fosser

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Malagasy fosa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈfo.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfo.sa]

Noun

fossa f (plural fosses)

1. fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈfo.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfo.sa]

Verb

fossa

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

Further reading

• “fossa” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Hungarian

Etymology

From fosik or fos +‎ -ja (personal suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfoʃːɒ]
• Hyphenation: fos‧sa
• Rhymes: -ʃɒ

Verb

fossa

1. third-person singular indicative present definite of fosik or fos
2. third-person singular subjunctive present definite of fosik or fos

Usage notes

This form also occurs when a verbal prefix is separated from the verb:

• fossa (…) le, le … fossa ― lefossa ― lefos
• and some more, see its derivatives with verbal prefixes.

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔsːa

Noun

fossa

1. indefinite accusative/genitive plural of foss

Italian

Etymology

From Latin fossa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔs.sa/
• Rhymes: -ɔssa
• Hyphenation: fòs‧sa

Noun

fossa f (plural fosse)

1. pit, hole
2. grave
3. (anatomy) fossa
4. trough (depression between waves or ridges)

Derived terms

• affossare
• formaggio di fossa
• fossa comune
• fossetta
• infossare

 

Related terms

• fossato

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• sfaso, sfasò

Ladin

Verb

fossa

1. third-person singular/plural imperfect subjunctive of ester

Latin

Etymology

Ellipsis of fossa terra (“dug-up earth”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfos.sa/, [ˈfɔs̠ːä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfos.sa/, [ˈfɔsːä]

Noun

fossa f (genitive fossae); first declension

1. (literal)
   1. (in general) a ditch, trench, moat, fosse
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.33:

     Quiritium quoque fossa [...] Anci regis opus est

     Also the Quirites’ ditch was the work of king Ancus

   Synonyms: fovea, scrobis, fossiō

   1. a gutter, waterway

      Synonym: colliciae

   2. a furrow drawn to mark foundations
   3. (Late Latin) a grave
2. (transferred sense) a boundary

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fossa	fossae
Genitive	fossae	fossārum
Dative	fossae	fossīs
Accusative	fossam	fossās
Ablative	fossā	fossīs
Vocative	fossa	fossae

Derived terms

• fossula

Related terms

• fodiō
• fossātum
• fossātus
• fossīcius
• fossilis
• fossiō
• fossō
• fossor
• fossōrius
• fossūra

 

Descendants

Descendants of fossa

• → Albanian: fushë
• Asturian: fuexa, → fosa
• → Byzantine Greek: φόσσα (phóssa)
  • → Classical Syriac: ܦܲܣܵܐ, ܦܲܐܣܵܐ (passā)
  • → Old Armenian: փոս (pʻos)
    • Armenian: փոս (pʻos)
    • → Georgian: ფოსო (poso)
• → Catalan: fossa
• → English: fossa, fosse
• → French: fosse, fossé
• Friulian: fuesse
• Galician: focha, → fosa
• → Italian: fossa, fosso
• → Occitan: fòssa
• → Portuguese: fossa
• Romanian: foasă, → fosă
• → Romansch: fossa
• → Sicilian: fossa, fossu
• Spanish: huesa, → fosa
• Venetan: fosa
• → Welsh: ffos

References

• “fossa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fossa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fossa in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• fossa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to make a ditch, a fosse: fossam ducere
    
  • to surround a town with a rampart and fosse: oppidum cingere vallo et fossa
    
• “fossa”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fossa”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Alternative forms

• fosset

Verb

fossa

1. inflection of fosse:
   1. simple past
   2. past participle

Etymology 2

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:

fossa

Wikipedia ^nb

From Malagasy fosa.

Noun

fossa m (definite singular fossaen, indefinite plural fossaer, definite plural fossaene)

1. a fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

fossa

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

fossa

From Malagasy fosa.

Noun

fossa m (definite singular fossaen, indefinite plural fossaer or fossaar, definite plural fossaene or fossaane)

1. a fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)

Etymology 2

From the noun foss m (“waterfall”). Compare Swedish forsa.

Alternative forms

• fosse (e- and split infinitives)

Verb

fossa (present tense fossar, past tense fossa, past participle fossa, passive infinitive fossast, present participle fossande, imperative fossa/foss)

1. (intransitive) to flow rapidly, fizz, roar, foam

References

• “fossa” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• ofsas

Old Norse

Noun

fossa

1. genitive plural indefinite of foss m

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

fossa

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from Malagasy fosa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔs.sa/
• Rhymes: -ɔssa
• Syllabification: fos‧sa
• Homophone: Fossa

Noun

fossa f

1. fossa (any mammal of the genus Cryptoprocta)

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	fossa	fossy
genitive	fossy	foss
dative	fossie	fossom
accusative	fossę	fossy
instrumental	fossą	fossami
locative	fossie	fossach
vocative	fosso	fossy

Declension of fossa

Further reading

• fossa in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.sɐ/

• Rhymes: -ɔsɐ

Etymology 1

From Latin fossa.^[1][2]

Noun

fossa f (plural fossas)

1. hole, hollow, cavity

   Synonym: cova

2. septic tank
3. (geology) oceanic trench

Derived terms

• Fossa das Marianas
• fossa nasal

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English fossa, from Malagasy fosa.^[2]

Noun

fossa f (plural fossas)

1. fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fossa

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

References

1. “fossa”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024
2. “fossa”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024