pata
paw/leg
An animal's leg or foot — extended to furniture legs, human legs, and figurative idioms involving clumsy steps, disorder, and bad luck.
Encoding Strategies:
mnemonic
visual
pat
to pat/touch gently
+
-a
noun suffix
Pata means paw/leg (of an animal or furniture) and sounds like the English word pat0 + -a1 (noun suffix1) — think of patting0 a dog on its paw.
pata
leg, paw (of animal or furniture)
The leg or foot of an animal, and by extension the leg of a piece of furniture. Also used colloquially/humorously for a person's leg.
a pata
on foot
Colloquial expression meaning 'on foot,' as if walking on your own 'paws.'
- 'Fuimos a pata' -> 'We went on foot.'
meter la pata
to put one's foot in it, to mess up
To make a blunder or say something inappropriate, like an animal clumsily stepping where it shouldn't.
patas arriba
upside down, in a mess
Literally 'legs up': upside down or in total chaos, evoking a table flipped with its legs pointing skyward.
mala pata
bad luck
A 'bad paw' suggests a stumbling step — when life trips you up, that's bad luck.
pata
female duck
A duck, an animal's leg or paw, and various idiomatic expressions built around the word (blundering, wrinkles, hopping, bad luck).
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
visual
pat
to pat/touch gently
+
-a
noun suffix
Pata means female duck and is simply the feminine1 (-a1) form of pato0 (duck0).
pata
female duck
A female duck — simply the feminine form of 'pato' (duck).
leg, paw (of an animal or furniture)
The leg of an animal (or, colloquially, of a person), or the leg/foot of a piece of furniture.
meter la pata
to put one's foot in it, to blunder
From the 'leg/paw' sense of 'pata': sticking your paw somewhere it doesn't belong means making a blunder.
pata de gallo
crow's feet (wrinkles),
houndstooth (textile pattern)
Literally 'rooster's foot,' used for wrinkles around the eyes or a textile pattern resembling one.
a la pata coja
hopping on one leg
Literally 'on the lame leg' — means hopping on one leg.
mala pata
bad luck
Colloquially 'bad paw' — means bad luck, like getting off on the wrong foot.