bloc

See also: Bloc and błoć

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc (“group, block”), ultimately of Old Dutch origin, from Frankish or Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”). Doublet of block.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /blɑk/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /blɒk/
• Homophone: block

Noun

bloc (plural blocs)

1. A group of voters or politicians who share common goals.
   • 2020: "Two Special Elections On Tuesday Could Hint At Another Blue Wave In 2020" by Geoffrey Skelley and Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight

     But a huge bloc of non-Hispanic white residents without bachelor’s degrees — 72 percent of the population age 25 or older — has turned the 7th District into Republican turf.

2. A group of countries acting together for political or economic goals, an alliance: e.g., the eastern bloc, the western bloc, a trading bloc, the Eurozone, the European Union.

   The ECB is considering three main options ... but two of them could hurt confidence in the bloc's most indebted states, ... (Reuters)

   Climate change a security risk for EU, say bloc's foreign policy chiefs (EUobserver)

   military bloc

Derived terms

• black bloc
• Eastern Bloc
• Soviet Bloc
• trade bloc

Translations

group of voters or politicians

• Arabic: كُتْلَة‎ (ar) f (kutla)
• Armenian: բլոկ (hy) (blok), դաշինք (hy) (dašinkʿ), խմբավորում (hy) (xmbavorum)
• Bulgarian: групировка (bg) f (grupirovka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 集團 (zh), 集团 (zh) (jítuán)

• Finnish: liittouma (fi), blokki (fi), ryhmittymä (fi)
• German: Block (de) m
• Italian: blocco (it) m
• Kyrgyz: блок (ky) m (bloq) бирикме (ky) m (birikme)

• Norwegian: blokk (no) m
• Portuguese: bloco (pt) m
• Russian: блок (ru) m (blok), группиро́вка (ru) f (gruppiróvka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бло̏к m

  Roman: blȍk (sh) m

• Spanish: bloque (es)
• Swedish: block (sv) n

group of countries

• Arabic: كُتْلَة‎ (ar) f (kutla)
• Armenian: բլոկ (hy) (blok)
• Bulgarian: блок (bg) m (blok)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聯合 (zh), 联合 (zh) (liánhé)

• Finnish: liittouma (fi), blokki (fi)
• French: bloc (fr) m
• German: Block (de) m
• Hebrew: גוש‎ (he) m (gush)
• Italian: blocco (it) m
• Japanese: 連合 (ja) (れんごう, rengō)

• Korean: 연합 (ko) (yeonhap)
• Norwegian: blokk (no) m
• Persian: بلوک‎ (fa) (blok)
• Portuguese: bloco (pt) m
• Russian: блок (ru) m (blok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бло̏к m

  Roman: blȍk (sh) m

• Spanish: bloque (es) m
• Swedish: block (sv) n

Anagrams

• CLOB, LCBO

---

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈblɔk/

Etymology 1

From French bloc.

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. block
2. bloc

Etymology 2

From English blog.

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. Obsolete spelling of blog

Usage notes

Recommend spelling (by TERMCAT) until 2013, when blog was accepted by the IEC.

Further reading

• “bloc” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “bloc” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “bloc” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “bloc” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “bloc” in termcat, Centre de Terminologia, 2021.

---

French

Etymology

From Middle French bloc (“a considerable piece of something heavy, block”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Frankish or Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɔk/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. a block (e.g., of wood)
2. a bloc, an alliance
3. a pad of paper
4. (computing) block (of memory, of code)

Derived terms

• à bloc
• bloc cardiaque
• bloc de béton
• bloc de départ
• bloc moteur
• bloc-note
• bloc opératoire
• Bloc Québécois
• commentaire en bloc
• en bloc
• faire bloc
• nier en bloc
• tout d'un bloc

 

Descendants

• → Asturian: bloque
• → Bulgarian: блок (blok)
• → Czech: bloc
• → English: bloc
• → Galician: bloque
• → Italian: bloc
• → Macedonian: блок (blok)
• → Norwegian: block
• → Persian: بلوک‎ (blok)
• → Polish: blok
• → Portuguese: bloco
• → Romanian: bloc
• → Russian: блок (blok)
  • → Armenian: բլոկ (blok)
• → Spanish: bloc, bloque
• → Turkish: blok

Further reading

• “bloc” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English block or from a Romance language.

Noun

bloc m (genitive singular bloic, nominative plural bloic)

1. block

Declension

Declension of bloc

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative bloc bloic Vocative a bhloic a bhloca Genitive bloic bloc Dative bloc bloic

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an bloc na bloic Genitive an bhloic na mbloc Dative leis an mbloc don bhloc leis na bloic

Derived terms

• blocadóir m (“block-maker”)
• blocáil (“block”, verb)
• blocán m (“small block; stocky person; blockhead; coal-fish”)
• bloc-chlár m (“blockboard”)
• blocdhéanmhas m (“block structure”)
• bloc fir m (“stocky man”)
• blocléaráid f (“block diagram”)
• bloclitir f (“block letter”)
• blocphriontáil f (“(act of) blockprinting”)
• craosbhloc m (“breech-block”)
• cróbhloc m (“deadeye”)
• mítéarbhloc m (“mitre-block”)
• próisbhloc m (“process-block”)
• sclóinbhloc m (“swivel block”)
• tacabhloc m (“pillow-block”)
• V-bhloc m (“V-block”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
bloc	bhloc	mbloc
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• "bloc" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “bloc”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

---

Romanian

Etymology

From French bloc, German Blockhaus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blok/

Noun

bloc n (plural blocuri)

1. block (a big chunk of solid matter)

   Synonym: bucată

   bloc de gheață ― block of ice

2. A heap or an ensemble of objects of the same type that form a unity.

   bloc de desen ― drawing block

3. apartment building (a big residential building with apartments)

   Synonym: (rare) blochaus

4. alliance, union (a coalition between different states, parties, groups etc. to achieve a common goal)

   Synonym: alianță

Declension

Declension of bloc

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) bloc	blocul	(niște) blocuri	blocurile
genitive/dative	(unui) bloc	blocului	(unor) blocuri	blocurilor
vocative	blocule		blocurilor

Derived terms

• în bloc
• bloc de desen
• bloc motor
• bloc cardiac
• bloc operator

---

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc. Doublet of block and bloque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblok/, [ˈblok]

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. pad (such as of paper)

Further reading

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