tICA

Tica is a term with multiple meanings depending on context. In Spanish, tica is a feminine demonym for a person from Costa Rica; the masculine form is tico, and the plural forms are ticos for mixed or male groups and ticas for female groups. While the formal demonym in official contexts is costarricense, tico/tica remains common in everyday speech and culture. The word can appear in phrases such as las ticas to refer to Costa Rican women, and it may be used more broadly to denote Costa Rican people or culture in informal settings.

In uppercase form, TICA commonly refers to The International Cat Association, an organization that registers pedigreed cats and sanctions cat shows. It is one of the major registries in the cat fancy community and serves breeders, judges, and exhibitors worldwide.

Outside of these uses, tica can appear as part of brand names, product names, or geographic identifiers in different languages. Because capitalization changes meaning, TICA and tica can denote very different concepts, so context is important for accurate interpretation.