cercar

Inherited from Late Latin circāre, from Latin circa, circus. Compare Occitan cercar and French chercher.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [sərˈka]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [seɾˈkaɾ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

cercar (first-person singular present cerco, first-person singular preterite cerquí, past participle cercat); root stress: (Central) /ɛ/; (Valencian) /e/; (Balearic) /ə/

1. (transitive) to look for; to search

   Synonym: buscar

• recerca
• cercle

• “cercar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cercar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “cercar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “cercar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cercar (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Late Latin circāre, from Latin circa, circus. Compare Portuguese cercar.

• IPA^(key): /θeɾˈkaɾ/, (western) /seɾˈkaɾ/

cercar (first-person singular present cerco, first-person singular preterite cerquei, past participle cercado)

1. to encircle
   • 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Rufus, Jordanus: Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 135:

     Para esto ual reer o lugar jnchado et çercallo de semesugas para liurar ende o sange que y ha para seyr fora

     For this is valid to scrape the swollen place and then to encircle it with leeches, so freeing the blood that is there, letting it go out

2. to fence, to wall
3. to surround; to besiege
   • 1370, R. Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 284:

     por njhũa cousa nonnos leixes partir de Troya, desque a cercaren, ata que non seja tomada et ata que toda sua gent non seja destroýda per gran crueza

     Under no circumstance should you release them from Troia, from the very moment that they surround it, not until it is seized and all of its people is destroyed with great cruelty

• cercado
• Cercado

• cerca
• cerco

• “cercar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “cerc” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “cercar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “cercar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012
• “cercar” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “cercar” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).
• “cercar” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

cercar (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of cercare

From Old Occitan cercar, from Late Latin circāre, present active infinitive of circō, from Latin circa, circus.

• IPA^(key): /seɾˈka/

• Audio

  (file)

cercar

1. to look for; to search
2. (with de) to seek to, to try, to attempt

• quèrre
• boscar
• recercar

• cercaire
• cercador

• cercle

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎, 2 edition, →ISBN, page 243.

Inherited from Late Latin circāre.

• IPA^(key): /t͡seɾ.ˈkaɾ/
• Rhymes: -aɾ

cercar

1. to encircle, to surround

• Galician: cercar
• Portuguese: cercar (see there for further descendants)

• Universo Cantigas - "cercar"

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cercar, from Late Latin circāre, from Latin circa, circus. Compare Galician cercar.

• Hyphenation: cer‧car

cercar (first-person singular present cerco, first-person singular preterite cerquei, past participle cercado)

1. (transitive) to besiege
2. (transitive) to surround

• descercar

• cerca

• Guinea-Bissau Creole: serka

• “cercar” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “cercar” in Dicionário inFormal.
• “cercar” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “cercar” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “cercar” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “cercar” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Inherited from Old Spanish cercar, from Late Latin circāre, from Latin circa, circus. Cognate with English search.

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θeɾˈkaɾ/ [θeɾˈkaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /seɾˈkaɾ/ [seɾˈkaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: cer‧car

cercar (first-person singular present cerco, first-person singular preterite cerqué, past participle cercado)

1. (transitive) to corral, fence, fence off

• “cercar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014