Also means
glowing coal
Usage Note
Ascua is feminine but takes el in the singular — el ascua — because it begins with a stressed a-, the same rule that gives el agua; the plural restores las ascuas. The key idiom is estar en ascuas — 'to be on tenterhooks' (literally 'to be on embers'). The word is somewhat literary and elevated in register.
Examples
"Las ascuas del fuego iluminaban la noche."
Natural Translation
The embers of the fire lit up the night.
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