flotilla

English

Etymology

From Spanish flotilla, diminutive of flota (“fleet”), from French flotte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /floʊˈtɪlə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: flo‧til‧la
• Rhymes: -ɪlə

Noun

flotilla (plural flotillas)

1. (nautical) A small fleet of warships (usually of the same class), or a fleet of small ships.
   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 102:

     Toward the horizon a flotilla of fishing-boats showed immutable, pink-lacquered by the evening sun.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians Codex entry:

     Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations.
     Home to 17 million quarians, the flotilla understandably has scarce resources. Because of this, each quarian must go on a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage when they come of age. They leave the fleet and only return once they have found something of value they can bring back to their people.

2. (by extension) A small group of things or people
   • 2009, David Walliams, Mr Stink:

     After a few moments Chloe saw Rosamund walking toward them with a small flotilla of shopping bags.

   • 2021, Liz Trenow, The Secrets of the Lake:

     flotilla of tiny ducklings

Translations

small fleet

• Belarusian: флаты́лія f (flatýlija)
• Catalan: flotilla (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小船隊／小船队 (xiǎochuánduì)

• Czech: flotila (cs) f
• Danish: flotille c
• Dutch: flottielje (nl)
• Finnish: lippue (fi)
• French: flottille (fr) f
• Galician: flotilla f
• German: Flottille (de) f
• Hungarian: hajóraj (hu), flottilla (hu)
• Icelandic: lítill floti m, smáfloti m, flotasveit f
• Italian: flottiglia (it) f
• Korean: 전단 (ko) (jeondan)
• Latin: classicula f
• Latvian: flotila f
• Lithuanian: flotilė f
• Maori: kahupapa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flotilje m

  Nynorsk: flotilje m

• Polish: flotylla (pl) f
• Portuguese: flotilha (pt) f
• Romanian: flotilă (ro) f
• Russian: флоти́лия (ru) f (flotílija)
• Slovak: flotila (sk) f
• Spanish: flotilla (es) f
• Swedish: flottilj (sv) c
• Ukrainian: флоти́лія (uk) f (flotýlija)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish flotilla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fluˈti.ʎə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [floˈti.ʎa]

Noun

flotilla f (plural flotilles)

1. flotilla

Further reading

• “flotilla” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “flotilla”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “flotilla” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “flotilla” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Spanish

Etymology

From flota +‎ -illa.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /floˈtiʝa/ [floˈt̪i.ʝa]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain and Latin America) /floˈtiʝa/ [floˈt̪i.ʝa]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains) /floˈtiʎa/ [floˈt̪i.ʎa]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /floˈtiʃa/ [floˈt̪i.ʃa]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /floˈtiʒa/ [floˈt̪i.ʒa]

 

• Rhymes: -iʝa

• (most of Spain and Latin America) Rhymes: -iʝa
• (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains) Rhymes: -iʎa
• (Buenos Aires and environs) Rhymes: -iʃa
• (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) Rhymes: -iʒa

• Syllabification: flo‧ti‧lla

Noun

flotilla f (plural flotillas)

1. fleet, flotilla

Descendants

• → Catalan: flotilla
• → English: flotilla
• → French: flottille
• → Italian: flottiglia
• → Portuguese: flotilha

Further reading

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