época

See also: epoca, època, and epocă

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈepoka/ [ˈe.po.ka]
• Rhymes: -epoka
• Syllabification: é‧po‧ca

Noun

época f (plural époques)

1. era, epoch (time period)

   Synonym: era

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛpoka/ [ˈɛ.po.kɐ]
• Rhymes: -ɛpoka
• Hyphenation: é‧po‧ca

Noun

época f (plural épocas)

1. time, season
2. age, period, epoch (particular period of history)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• epoca, epocha (pre-standardization spelling)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi

Proto-Hellenic *epí

Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí)

Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-)

Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ-der.

Proto-Hellenic *hékʰō

Ancient Greek ἔχω (ékhō)

Ancient Greek ἐπέχω (epékhō)

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Hellenic *-ā́

Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā)

Ancient Greek -η (-ē)

Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ)bor.

Medieval Latin epochalbor.

Portuguese época

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin epocha, borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.pu.kɐ/, /ˈɛ.po.kɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.pu.kɐ/, /ˈɛ.po.kɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.po.ka/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.pu.kɐ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: é‧po‧ca

Noun

época f (plural épocas)

1. time, season
2. age, period, epoch (particular period of history)
   • 2005, Gil Felippe, No Rastro de Afrodite – Plantas Afrodisíacas e Culinária, Ateliê Editorial, →ISBN, page 33:

     Havia formas já selecionadas de abacaxi ou ananás na época pré-colombiana. É considerado o fruto mais saboroso da América e os primeiros indícios de seu cultivo são do México.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “época”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “época”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Alternative forms

• epoca, epocha (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin epocha, from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ, “a check, cessation, stop, pause, epoch of a star, i.e., the point at which it seems to halt after reaching the highest, and generally the place of a star; hence, a historical epoch”), from ἐπέχω (epékhō, “to hold in, check”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈepoka/ [ˈe.po.ka]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -epoka
• Syllabification: é‧po‧ca

Noun

época f (plural épocas)

1. epoch, era, age, time, day
2. season, time
3. period (of time), time period
4. (geology) epoch

Hyponyms

• época de exámenes (“exam period, exam time”)
• época de secas (“dry season”) (Mexico)
• época de vacas flacas (“lean years, tough times”)
• época medieval (“medieval times”)
• época navideña (“Christmas time, Christmas season”)
• época pasada (“bygone era”)

Derived terms

• adelantado a su época
• de época
• en la época (“around the time”)
• en mi época (“in my day, back in my day”)

Further reading

• “época”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025