cerval
Portuguese
Etymology
Inherited from Latin cervārius (“pertaining to a stag”), from cervus (“deer, stag”). Doublet of serval.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /seʁˈvaw/ [seɦˈvaʊ̯]
- (São Paulo) IPA(key): /seɾˈvaw/ [seɾˈvaʊ̯]
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /seʁˈvaw/ [seʁˈvaʊ̯]
- (Caipira) IPA(key): /seɻˈvaw/ [seɻˈvaʊ̯]
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /sɨɾˈval/ [sɨɾˈvaɫ]
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /sɨɾˈbal/ [sɨɾˈβaɫ]
- (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /sɨɾˈva.li/
- Homophone: serval
- Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
- Hyphenation: cer‧val
Adjective
cerval m or f (plural cervais)
Derived terms
- gato-cerval
- lobo-cerval
Descendants
- French: serval
- → English: serval
- → German: Serval
- → Portuguese: serval
- Translingual: Felis serval
Further reading
- “cerval”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
- “cerval”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /θeɾˈbal/ [θeɾˈβ̞al] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
- IPA(key): /seɾˈbal/ [seɾˈβ̞al] (Latin America, Philippines)
- Rhymes: -al
- Syllabification: cer‧val
Adjective
cerval m or f (masculine and feminine plural cervales)
- deerlike; deer; cervine
- tremendous (fear)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “cerval”, 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