Meanings
nounphoca (plural phocas or phocae)
- obsoleteA seal.First known use 16th–19th c.
With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocæ glide, And Whales and Grampi swell the distant tide.
1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 681 more example
His charet swift in haste he thither steard, Which with a teeme of scaly Phocas bound Was drawne vpon the waues, that fomed him around.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Origin
- Ancient Greekφώκη
- Latinphōca
- Englishphoca
Borrowed from Latin phōca, from Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
phoca. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phoca
MLA
“phoca.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phoca. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phoca,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phoca.
Source: phoca on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.