Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Romanian word fișă

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1931 CADE dictionary More words from the 20th century
Borrowed from
French fiche
Ultimate origin
Latin fīgō

Forms

fișă f (plural fișe)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fiche.[2][3][4][1] The French noun comes from ficher (“to drive in, to fix”), from Vulgar Latin *figicō, a derivative of Latin fīgō (“to fix, drive in”).[5][6] Ciorănescu, after Tiktin, calls it a doublet of fisă “token, counter”, which came from the same French word through Modern Greek.[4][1] Graur places it in the same Latin family as fix, afișa, înfige, prefix and sufix.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from Liviu Ioanovici's Tehnologia mecanică (1949), but the word is in CADE as early as 1931, with two senses: a small sheet on which a note is written and filed with others, and the round metal plug used to make a telephone connection.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Scriban (1939) gives it two senses: a slip of paper with notes, filed among others, and a metal token used in games; for the token he calls the form fisă wrong.[5] Post-war dictionaries drop the token sense and add official forms: fișă personală, the personnel record of an employee, and fișă de sănătate, a health record.[9][2] Accounting and industry added fișă de evidență and fișă tehnologică.[2][3] The technical sense “plug” is still current.[2][10]

Timeline

  • 1931 – CADE has it as a filing card and a telephone plug.[8]
  • 1939 – Scriban adds the sense “gaming token”.[5]
  • 1949 – MDA2's first record, in Ioanovici's Tehnologia mecanică.[3]
  • 1955 – fișă personală and fișă de sănătate in the DLRLC.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small sheet of paper or card used for notes while gathering material for a piece of work; the notes on it; an index card.[2][3]
  2. (libraries) A card of standard size carrying the bibliographic details of a book or periodical.[2][3]
  3. A document or form recording data: fișă personală “personnel record”, fișă de sănătate “health record”, fișă de evidență “accounting record card”, fișă tehnologică “process sheet”.[2][3]
  4. (technology) A plug at the end of a cord, pushed into a socket to connect to an electric or telephone line.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 397
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 910
  4. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. fișă
  5. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 510
  6. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera
  7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 44
  8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. fișă
  9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 296
  10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. fișă

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Fișă.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/fi%C8%99%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·