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Definition 2024


selva

selva

See also: selvä

English

Noun

selva (plural selvas)

  1. Heavily forested ground in the Amazon basin.

Anagrams


Asturian

Noun

selva f (plural selves)

  1. rainforest

Catalan

Noun

selva f (plural selves)

  1. jungle, rainforest

Italian

Etymology

From Latin silva.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈselva/, [ˈs̪el̺.vä]
  • Hyphenation: sél‧va

Noun

selva f (plural selve)

  1. forest, wood
    • 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno, Le Monnier (1994), Canto I, p. 5, vv. 1-3:
      Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita ¶ mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ¶ ché la diritta via era smarrita.
      Midway upon the journey of our life ¶ I found myself within a forest dark, ¶ for the straight-forward pathway had been lost.
  2. (by extension, poetic) wood (material), woodland
    • 1374, Francesco Petrarca, Il Canzoniere, Andrea Bettini (1858), p.188, Capitolo XIII:
      [...] e non si trasformasse in verde selva, ¶ per uscirmi di braccia come il giorno ¶ che Apollo la seguia quaggiù per terra.
      [...] and may she not be changed to green woodland, ¶ issuing from my arms, as on the day ¶ when Apollo pursued her down here on earth.
  3. (figuratively) mass, multitude, forest
    • 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno, Le Monnier (1994), Canto IV, p. 57, vv. 64-66:
      Non lasciavam l'andar perch'ei dicessi, ¶ ma passavam la selva tuttavia, ¶ la selva, dico, di spiriti spessi.
      We ceased not to advance because he spake, ¶ but still were passing onward through the forest, ¶ the forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts.

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Latvian

Noun

selva f (4th declension)

  1. selva

Declension


Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin silva, from Proto-Indo-European *swel-, *sel- (mountain, ridge, forest). Compare the doublet silva.

Pronunciation

  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈsɛɫ.vɐ/
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈsɛw.va/, /ˈsɛw.vɐ/
  • Hyphenation: sel‧va

Noun

selva f (plural selvas)

  1. jungle
    O leão é o rei da selva.
    The lion is the king of the jungle.
  2. woods, forest
  3. (figuratively) mass, multitude, forest

Quotations

  • 1844: O apertado revolver das armas formava uma selva de ferros em volta dos dois capitães inimigos, através da qual debalde o conde de Septum buscara multas vezes abrir caminho para ferir Teodomiro, até que finalmente, galgando por cima de um árabe derribado, pudera vibrar um golpe. Alexandre Herculano, "Eurico, o Presbítero".

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Spanish

Selva (rain forest).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈselβa/

Etymology

From Latin silva.

Noun

selva f (plural selvas)

  1. (forestry) forest or jungle, wood, chiefly a rain forest

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Anagrams