zarzuela

Borrowed from Spanish zarzuela, probably from the Palace of Zarzuela, royal residence near Madrid where it was first performed.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /zɑɹˈzweɪlə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /zɑːˈzweɪlə/

zarzuela (countable and uncountable, plural zarzuelas)

1. (music) A form of Spanish opera having spoken dialogue and usually a comic subject.
2. (cooking) A Catalan fish soup or stew.

   Coordinate term: bouillabaisse

   • 1964, Jan Morris, “Plural Spain”, in Spain, Faber and Faber, published 2008, →ISBN:

     Only in Catalonia can you eat a proper zarzuela, a gargantuan fish soup; […] .

• zarzuela on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

zarzuela f (plural zarzuelas)

1. alternative form of zarzuéla

• “zarzuela”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from Spanish zarzuela.

• Hyphenation: zar‧zu‧e‧la

zarzuela f (plural zarzuelas)

1. (music) zarzuela (form of Spanish opera having spoken dialogue)

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

From La Zarzuela, royal residence near Madrid where it was first performed.

• IPA^(key): /θaɾˈθwela/ [θaɾˈθwe.la] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /saɾˈswela/ [saɾˈswe.la] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ela
• Syllabification: zar‧zue‧la

zarzuela f (plural zarzuelas)

1. (music) zarzuela (form of Spanish opera having spoken dialogue)

• → Catalan: sarsuela
• → Tagalog: sarsuwela

• zarzuela on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es
• “zarzuela”, 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