mecha

From Japanese メカ (meka), from an abbreviation of the English mechanical.

• Rhymes: -ɛkə
• Homophone: mecca

mecha (plural mechas or mecha)

1. (anime, manga) A large armoured robot on legs, typically controlled by a pilot seated inside.
   • 1997, Helen McCarthy, The anime movie guide:

     Having deprived her of both her mecha and her lover, Masato looks set for a nasty end, but Miku arrives to save him.

   • 2002, Christopher Hart, Anime mania: how to draw characters for Japanese animation:

     A transformation occurs when a mecha character, vehicle, or weapon unfolds and reassembles itself in a totally new form.

   • 2006, Dani Cavallaro, The animé art of Hayao Miyazaki:

     Porco Rosso evinces a deep fascination with mechanical objects of all sorts but it is by no means a mecha movie...

   • 2007, Frenchy Lunning, Mechademia 2: Networks of Desire:

     Each week the good guys fight the bad guys and vanquish them in a mecha battle, only to have the bad guys reappear intact the following week.

   • 2007, Robin E. Brenner, Understanding manga and anime, page 170:

     […] to be a “lifter”—to pilot a mecha that can also transform into an air board […]

   • 2011, Kensuke Okabayashi, Manga For Dummies, page 275:

     In this section, I show you mechas that are large enough to be piloted by humans from the inside. Although most of them are designed for combat, some function as transportation or construction mechas.

• walker

• Cheam, mâche, mache, Achem, meach, Mache

15th century. From Old French mesche.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈmet͡ʃa̝/

mecha f (plural mechas)

1. wick (burning cord)

   Synonyms: matula, pabío, torcida

   • 1455, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI, page 315:

     et fogil et ysca et candea de çera et hun pente e mechas de xofre e hun cordón de sedas

     and a tinderbox, and tinder, and a candle made of wax, and a comb, and sulfur wicks, and a silk cord

2. lock of hair

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “mecha”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “mecha”, 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), “mecha”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “mecha”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

mecha

1. Rōmaji transcription of めちゃ

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛxa/,

mecha

1. inflection of mech:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative dual

mecha

1. Obsolete spelling of meecha.

Borrowed from French mèche.

mecha f (plural mechas)

1. lock (length of hair)

   Synonyms: cacho, madeixa

2. wick (burning cord of a candle)

   Synonym: pavio

• IPA^(key): /ˈmet͡ʃa/
• Rhymes: -etʃa
• Syllabification: me‧cha

Perhaps borrowed from French mèche.

mecha f (plural mechas)

1. wick, fuse
2. lock (length of hair)

   Synonym: bucle

3. (in the plural, hair) highlights

   Synonym: rizo

mecha

1. inflection of mechar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “mecha”, 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