English

Noun

loa ‎(plural loas or loa)

1. In the voodoo religion, a spirit intermediary between Bondye (the creator god) and human beings.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 714:

     Equally surprising is to find St Patrick so prominent in many Vodou shrines, until one remembers that he too had been a slave who had twice crossed the sea, the second time to freedom, and that he had particular power over snakes, like the loa (Haitian equivalent of orisha) Dambala Wèdo.

Translations

Anagrams

• AOL, Lao, OAL, Ola

Hawaiian

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *loa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlo.a/, [ˈlowə]

Noun

loa

1. distance, length

Verb

loa

1. (stative) long, permanent

Derived terms

• Mauna Loa ‎(literally “long mountain”)

Malagasy

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlu.a]

Etymology

Common Malayo-Polynesian, compare Malay luak

Verb

loa

1. to vomit
2. to pay
3. to discharge

Related terms

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• lôa (obsolete)

Etymology

Back-formation from loar.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈlo.ɐ/
• Hyphenation: lo‧a

Noun

loa f (plural loas)

1. praise
2. (chiefly in the plural) carol

Spanish

Noun

loa f ‎(plural loas)

1. praise

Related terms

• loar

Verb

loa

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of loar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of loar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of loar.

Tswana

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔ.a/

Verb

lôa (perfect loile)

1. to bewitch

Derived terms

• moloi

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 螺 (“spiral shell”)

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [l̪waː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [lwaː˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [l̻ʲ⁽ʷ⁾aː˧˥]

Noun

(classifier cái) loa

1. megaphone (portable device used to amplify a person's voice)
2. (by extension) speaker; loudspeaker