atalaia

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese atalaya, from Arabic طَلِيعَة (ṭalīʕa, “a scout; and a party of scouts”), from the verb طَالَعَ (ṭālaʕa, “to inspect”), from the root ط ل ع (ṭ l ʕ), the same as طَلَعَ (ṭalaʕa, “to watch”).

• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaja/ [a.t̪aˈla̠.jɐ]
• Rhymes: -aja

atalaia f (plural atalaias)

1. watchtower

• Atalaia

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “atalaia”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “atalaia”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Corriente, Federico (2008), “atalaia”, in Dictionary of Arabic and Allied Loanwords. Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician and Kindred Dialects (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 97), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN

• Rhymes: -ajɐ
• Homophone: Atalaia
• Hyphenation: a‧ta‧lai‧a

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese atalaya, from Arabic الطَلِيعَة (aṭ-ṭalīʕa, “a scout; and a party of scouts”) (plural الطَلَائِع (aṭ-ṭalāʔiʕ)), from the verb طَالَعَ (ṭālaʕa, “to inspect”), from the root ط ل ع (ṭ l ʕ), the same as طَلَعَ (ṭalaʕa, “to watch”).

atalaia f (plural atalaias)

1. watchtower

   Synonym: vigia

2. (Brazil) the highest peak in a mountain chain

atalaia m or f by sense (plural atalaias)

1. sentinel, sentry

   Synonyms: guarda, sentinela, vigia

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

atalaia

1. inflection of atalaiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “atalaya”, 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
• “طَلِيعَةٌ in Edward William Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, Williams & Norgate, London: 1863.

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