Hoja

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word (http://daily.tomisimo.org/) for May 22, 2008

hoja -feminine noun (la), sheet (of paper), leaf. Look up hoja in the dictionary (http://www.tomisimo.org/dictionary/spanish_english/hoja)

En papiroflexia, una hoja de papel se convierte en cosas inimaginables.
In origami, a sheet of paper turns into something amazing.

[Iris]

Sometimes hoja is used meaning blade instead of filo.
A sheet of paper is una hoja o un folio, but the last one refers only to A4 sheets. Half an A4 is called cuartilla (from quarter I imagine...)

[poli]

You've lost me, but I assume A4 paper is what we call letter-sized which is a standard sheet size. Legal size is longer. We don't refer to a sheet of paper as a blade or filo. In the US filo is a kind of pastry dough used
in Greek baking similar to hojaldre but not as sweet.
Filo is also used by Latin Americans to mean very hungry. Examplo: Tengo filo. Tengo que comer ahora mismo.

[Iris]

An A4 is, as you imagined, your standard sheet of paper.
Let me explain the hoja thing:
In Spanish hoja is sometimes used to mean filo (the Spanish word for blade)
el filo de la navaja, la hoja está muy afilada.
Nothing to do with filo pastry.

[poli]

Oh, yes. Filo as in alfiler as opposed to filo in baklavá.
Thank you

[Tomisimo]

In Mexico razor blades are hojas de navaja.

Speaking of paper sizes...

tamaño carta - 8 1/2 x 11 (standard sheet of paper)
tamaño oficio - legal sized paper (8 1/2 x 14?)