bellesa

Catalan

Etymology

Equivalent to bell +‎ -esa, possibly from Vulgar Latin *bellitia, from Latin bellus. Compare Italian bellezza, Portuguese beleza, Occitan belesa, and Spanish belleza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [bəˈʎe̞.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [bəˈʎə.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [bəˈʎɛ.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [beˈʎe.za]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Homophone: vellesa

Noun

bellesa f (plural belleses)

1. beauty (in general)
2. beauty (e.g., a woman)

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “bellesa”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “bellesa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “bellesa”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007