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asă

handle (of a jug, basket, or pot) /ˈa.sə/

noun#140 most common

Also: ear (of a jug or pot), loop

Example sentences

Cana are o asă.
The mug has a handle.
Asa ulciorului este ruptă.
The jug's handle is broken.
Am apucat coșul de asă ca să nu cadă.
I grabbed the basket by the handle so it wouldn't fall.
Bunica ține oala mereu de ambele ase.
Grandma always holds the pot by both handles.
Meșterul olar a modelat cu grijă asa vasului înainte de ardere.
The potter carefully shaped the vessel's handle before firing.
În satele de munte, sătenii încă spun „asă” în loc de „toartă” atunci când vorbesc despre ulcioarele de lut.
In mountain villages, locals still say "asă" instead of "toartă" when talking about clay jugs.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeasăase
Genitiveaseiaselor
Accusativeasăase
Vocativeasoaselor

Word family

toartăhandle (the standard, everyday term, near-synonym of asă)
ansăloop, bend, meander; technical handle (doublet borrowed via French)
a apuca de asăto grab (something) by the handle

Etymology

The word comes from Latin "ansa" (handle, loop), through the regular Romanian sound change in which the cluster -ns- before a vowel simplified to -s-. The same shift turned Latin "mensa" into Romanian "masă" (table). "Asă" now survives mainly in regional and rural speech, largely replaced in standard Romanian by "toartă." A later, separate borrowing of the same Latin root through French "anse" gave modern Romanian "ansă" (loop, bend), so the two words form a doublet.

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