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papa

dad

noun PAH-pah Rare
People & Society Family

Also means

potato (Latin America)

Usage Note

Papa has two distinct meanings depending on context and region. In most of Latin America la papa (feminine) is the standard word for 'potato', preferred over Spain's la patata. El papa (masculine, written el Papa when referring to the Pope) means 'dad' colloquially or 'the Pope' formally — context and capitalisation distinguish them. The stress is the same for all senses, so only gender/context disambiguates.

Examples

"Mi papa llegó tarde a cenar."

Natural Translation

My dad arrived late for dinner.

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