hacia

See also: hacía

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowing from Spanish hacia.

Preposition

hacia

1. toward, towards

Spanish

Etymology

According to Coromines and Pascual, from Old Spanish fazia (attested ca. 1300), with the variant faza (att. in Cid, Berceo, Calila e Dimna), and in pre-literary Latinized spelling faze ad (att. 1208, in a legal document), from Latin faciem ad (facing towards). Unlike in faz, the final -e of Latin faciem was conserved due to appearing in an established phrase, cf. Spanish pese a and its variant pesia. Cognate with Leonese faza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈaθja/ [ˈa.θja]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /ˈasja/ [ˈa.sja]
• (Spain) Rhymes: -aθja
• (Latin America) Rhymes: -asja
• Syllabification: ha‧cia
• Homophone: (Latin America) Asia

Preposition

hacia

1. toward, towards

   Сaminaremos hacia el centro de la ciudad.

   We'll walk towards the center of the city.

   El cohete se dirige hacia la luna.

   The rocket is heading towards the Moon.

   Actitudes negativas hacia personas con discapacidades

   Negative attitudes towards people with disabilities

Usage notes

• Often replaced with the prepositions a or more colloquially para.

Derived terms

• hacia abajo
• hacia adelante
• hacia arriba
• hacia atrás
• hacia delante

 

Descendants

• Asturian: hacia

References

• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1984) “hacia”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes III (G–Ma), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 301

Further reading

• “hacia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014