cobaia

Galician

Noun

cobaia f (plural cobaias)

1. guinea pig

Portuguese

cobaia

Etymology

From Old Tupi çobaîa (foreign), from a clipping of Old Tupi saûîasobaîa (guinea pig, literally “foreign tree rat”). The change of ⟨ç⟩ (pronounced /s/) to ⟨c⟩ (pronounced /k/) is irregular and likely stems from a misreading or misprint.

The figurative sense is likely a semantic loan from English guinea pig.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /koˈbaj.ɐ/ [koˈbaɪ̯.ɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /koˈbaj.ɐ/ [koˈbaɪ̯.ɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /koˈbaj.a/ [koˈbaɪ̯.a]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kuˈbaj.ɐ/ [kuˈβaj.ɐ]

• Rhymes: -ajɐ
• Hyphenation: co‧bai‧a

Noun

cobaia f (plural cobaias)

1. Synonym of porquinho-da-índia
2. (figuratively) guinea pig (volunteer for an experiment)

Descendants

• → French: cobaye