Hoja

Hoja
 

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for May 22, 2008

hoja -feminine noun (la), sheet (of paper), leaf. Look up hoja in the dictionary

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

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...)

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.

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.

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

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?)