hacia

See also: hacía

Asturian

Alternative forms

• haza

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish hacia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaθja/ [ˈa.θja]
• Hyphenation: ha‧cia

Preposition

hacia

1. toward, towards

Spanish

Etymology

According to Coromines and Pascual, from Old Spanish fazia (attested ca. 1300), with the variant faza (att. in Cid, Berceo, Calila e Dimna), and in pre-literary Latinized spelling faze ad (att. 1208, in a legal document), from Latin faciem ad (facing towards). Unlike in faz, the final -e of Latin faciem was conserved due to appearing in an established phrase, cf. Spanish pese a and its variant pesia. Cognate with Leonese faza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈaθja/ [ˈa.θja]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /ˈasja/ [ˈa.sja]
• Rhymes: -aθja
• Rhymes: -asja
• Syllabification: ha‧cia
• Homophone: (Latin America) Asia

Preposition

hacia

1. toward, towards

   Сaminaremos hacia el centro de la ciudad.

   We'll walk towards the center of the city.

   El cohete se dirige hacia la luna.

   The rocket is heading towards the Moon.

   Actitudes negativas hacia personas con discapacidades

   Negative attitudes towards people with disabilities

Usage notes

• Often replaced with the prepositions a or more colloquially para.

Derived terms

• hacia abajo
• hacia adelante
• hacia arriba
• hacia atrás
• hacia delante

Descendants

• Asturian: hacia

References

• Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “hacia”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume III (G–Ma), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 301

Further reading

• “hacia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10