nounnoun

el coma

coma

Signo de puntuación que se usa para hacer una pausa corta en una oración y para separar elementos en una lista.

Coma has several meanings in Spanish:

A deep state of unconsciousness — masculine: el coma. A person in a coma is unconscious and does not respond normally to their surroundings.
The punctuation mark “,” — feminine: la coma. It separates elements in a sentence or list.
A verb form of comer , “to eat”: coma can mean “I/he/she/you (formal) eat” in the present subjunctive, or “eat” as a formal command to one person.

As a noun, the grammatical gender depends on the meaning: el coma for the medical condition, but la coma for the punctuation mark.
As a verb, coma is a form of the irregular verb comer . It is used in the present subjunctive for yo, él, ella, and usted, and as the formal singular imperative.
The two noun meanings have different origins. The punctuation term comes from Greek kómma, meaning a “piece” or “section.” The medical term comes from Greek kōma, meaning “deep sleep.”

For the medical meaning, inconsciencia (“unconsciousness”) is a related term, but it is broader and does not necessarily mean a medically defined coma. Letargo (“lethargy”) describes severe drowsiness or sluggishness and is generally less severe.
There is no exact antonym for the medical meaning. Vigilia [?](vocabuo://word/vigilia] (being awake) is a contrast, but not a precise opposite in medical usage.
For the punctuation mark, pausa (“pause”) describes one possible effect of a comma in reading, but is not a synonym for the punctuation mark itself. There is no direct antonym.
In its verb sense, ingiera can be a formal alternative to “eat,” though it is more formal and often means “ingest.” There is no single antonym that applies to every use of coma as a verb.

entrar en coma — to fall into a coma.
coma inducido — medically induced coma.
poner una coma — to insert a comma.
coma decimal — decimal comma, used as the decimal separator in some countries.
Espero que coma — “I hope he/she eats” or “I hope you eat.”
Coma usted — “Eat,” as a formal command to one person.

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Estaba muy enfermo, por eso cayó en coma.noun

He was very sick, that's why he fell into a coma.

El coma fue muy largo y preocupante.noun

The coma was very long and worrying.

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