gambas (Swedish)
Where does "gambas" come from?
The Swedish word 'gambas' is a direct borrowing from the Spanish 'gambas,' which is the plural form of 'gamba,' meaning shrimp or prawn. This term made its way into the Swedish lexicon as a specific loanword to identify the tiger prawn.
Full etymology tree
- gambas (Swedish), 'tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon'
- borrowed gambas (Spanish), 'plural of gamba'
- affix gamba (Spanish), 'shrimp'
- borrowed gamba (Catalan), 'leg'
- inherited *gambarus (Late Latin)
- inherited gammarus (Latin), 'lobster'
- borrowed kámmaros (kámmaros) (Ancient Greek)
- inherited gammarus (Latin), 'lobster'
- inherited *gambarus (Late Latin)
- borrowed gamba (Catalan), 'leg'
- affix gamba (Spanish), 'shrimp'
- borrowed gambas (Spanish), 'plural of gamba'
Ancestors
- gambas (Spanish)
Updated May 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris