rótula

See also: rotula, rotulá, and ròtula

Galician

Noun

rótula f (plural rótulas)

(anatomy) patella, kneecap

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rotula (“small wheel”). Doublet of rolha.

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔ.tu.lɐ/ [ˈhɔ.tu.lɐ]
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔ.tu.lɐ/ [ˈχɔ.tu.lɐ]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔ.tu.la/ [ˈhɔ.tu.la]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɔ.tu.lɐ/

Hyphenation: ró‧tu‧la

Noun

rótula f (plural rótulas)

(anatomy) kneecap
Synonym: patela
(São Paulo, Bahia, South Brazil) roundabout
Synonyms: (Brazil) rotatória, (Portugal) rotunda, (Brazil) balão, (Brazil) queijinho, (Brazil) círculo

Hypernyms

(kneecap): osso

Further reading

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

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed directly from Latin rotula. Doublet of rol.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈrotula/ [ˈro.t̪u.la]
Rhymes: -otula
Syllabification: ró‧tu‧la

Noun

rótula f (plural rótulas)

(anatomy) kneecap, patella

Further reading

“rótula”, 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