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SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

jaque.

check

5 characters2 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈxake/[ˈxa.ke]
  1. check

    masculine
    No oí bien cuando me dijo « ¡Jaque! »
  2. jeopardy, danger, threat

    masculine
    Vamos, no me pongas en jaque con esa pregunta repentina.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Old Spanish xaque, from Arabic شاه (šāh, “shah; king chess piece”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (mlkʾ /⁠šāh⁠/, “king”). Doublet of cheque and escaque (“chess tile”), the latter formerly meaning "(any) chess piece" as well. To explain the unusual rendering of Arabic -h as /k/ (-que), Coromines and Pascual suggest influence from escaque instead. They also mention an alternative idea they find less likely where the sound [h] was exaggerated as [k], cf. Medieval Latin nichil [ˈnikil]. Yet another explanation (not in Coromines and Pascual) for the /k/ is that it is from Arabic شاهك šāh-ak ("your king"), especially as it is used to announce an upcoming attack onto the enemy's king. First attested in 1283 as dar xaque ("to threaten the enemy's king").

verb/ˈxake/[ˈxa.ke]
  1. inflection of jaquir: third-person singular present indicative

    form-of · indicative · present · singular · third-person
  2. inflection of jaquir: second-person singular imperative

    form-of · imperative · second-person · singular
Where this word comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.