buscar - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

buscar (first-person singular indicative present busco, past participle buscáu)

1. to search, to look for, to seek

• guetar

• buscu

Borrowed from Spanish buscar, which is of unknown origin in that language.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [busˈka]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [busˈkaɾ]
• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

buscar (first-person singular present busco, first-person singular preterite busquí, past participle buscat)

1. to seek, to search for, to look for

   Synonym: cercar

• busca-raons

• “buscar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “buscar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “buscar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “buscar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Old Galician-Portuguese buscar of unknown origin; perhaps from the same origin of bosque (“forest”). Alternatively, possibly from Proto-Celtic *bud-skō (“win, conquer”), related to Proto-Celtic *boudi (“victory”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /busˈkaɾ/

buscar (first-person singular present busco, first-person singular preterite busquei, past participle buscado)

1. to search for; to look for

   • 1390, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Os Miragres de Santiago. Versión gallega del Códice latino del siglo XII atribuido al papa Calisto I, Madrid: C.S.I.C., page 86:

     Et moytos de caualo et de pee buscarono por los mõtes quatro dias et nũca o poderõ achar.

     And many riders and peons looked for him in the mountains for four days, but they cound't find him

   Synonym: procurar

2. to procure

   Synonym: procurar

3. to fetch, to pick up
   • c1350, K. M. Parker (ed.), Historia Troyana. Santiago: Instituto Sarmiento, page 30:

     Et çercou et escodrinou as terras et as rribeyras et os mõtes que disemos, buscando et colendo as eruas que avia menester.

     He researched and scrutinized the lands and the shores and the mountains that we mentioned, fetching and collecting the plants he needed

   • 1371, A. López Ferreiro, editor, Fueros municipales de Santiago y de su tierra, Madrid: Ediciones Castilla, page 434:

     Et demays foron buscar todos los outros coengos et personas que eran enna villa a suas casas, et por forza trouxeron a o cardeal dom Alfonso Perez, et a o cardeal dom Alfonso Gonzalez, o qual Alfonso Gonzalez sacaron da capela de San Johan apostollo onde estaba, et o boo coengo Rodrigo Rodriguez por que foron a sua casa; et trouxeronnos por força et contra suas voontades et enssarraronnos con os outros enno dito thesouro.

     they went to fetch every other canon and person that were in town at their houses; forcibly they brought cardinal Don Afonso Pérez, and cardinal Don Afonso González, who was removed from the chapel of Saint John the Apostle, where he was, and the good canon Rodrigo Rodríguez, for whom they went to his house; and they brought them forcibly and against each one's will and they locked them inside the treasury room

   Synonym: recoller

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “buscar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “buscar”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “buscar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “buscar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “buscar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

• boscar

Disputed. Generally assumed to be derived from Vulgar Latin *buscum (“wood, bush”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“wood, bush”).
Alternatively, perhaps from a Celtic language; compare Old Irish búaid (“victory”) and Welsh budd (“gain”), all from Proto-Celtic *boudi (“gain”).

• IPA^(key): /busˈkaɾ/

buscar

1. to look for

   • ca. 1140-1200, Anonymous (or Per Abbat), Cantar de mío Cid 1628:

     Van buscar a valençia a myo çid dõ Rodrigo

     They're going to Valencia to look for my Cid, don Rodrigo

• Ladino: bushkar
• Spanish: buscar
• Sicilian: vuscari

From Old Galician-Portuguese buscar of unknown origin, possibly cognate with bosque, cognate with Italian buscare and Spanish buscar. Or possibly from Celtic; compare Old Irish búaid (“victory”) and Welsh budd (“gain”), all from Proto-Celtic *boudi (“gain”).

• Hyphenation: bus‧car

buscar (first-person singular present busco, first-person singular preterite busquei, past participle buscado)

1. to search for

   Synonyms: pesquisar, procurar

2. to fetch, pick up
   • 2012, Luís Fernando Veríssimo, “A diferença”, in Diálogos Impossíveis, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Objetiva, →ISBN, page 10:

     Internou-se na clínica com a vaga esperança de que a Morte, que vem ali buscar tanta gente, um dia o leve por distração.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Inherited from Old Spanish buscar. Ultimate origin unknown, possibly cognate with bosque, cognate with Portuguese buscar. Or possibly from a Celtic language; compare Old Irish búaid (“victory”) and Welsh budd (“gain”), all from Proto-Celtic *boudi (“gain”).

• IPA^(key): /busˈkaɾ/ [busˈkaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: bus‧car

buscar (first-person singular present busco, first-person singular preterite busqué, past participle buscado)

1. to seek, search for, look for, try to find, to scour
2. to look up (in a search engine, dictionary, etc.)
3. to fetch, get, pick up

   Synonym: recoger

4. (reflexive) to bring on (oneself), to ask for

   Lo siento, pero te lo buscaste.

   I am sorry, but you brought this on yourself.

   Venga, se lo está buscando.

   Come on, he's asking for it.

To say "to search [place] for [target object]," one must say "buscar [target object] en [place]."

• esculcar

• “buscar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

• brusca, cubras