Skip to content

"affair (matter, business)" in seven languages

Meaningaffair (matter, business)

Spanish

asunto

/aˈsunto/

masc.other source · Latin ASSŪMPTUM 'taken up'

French

affaire

/afɛʁ/

fem.inherited

From à faire 'to be done'; les affaires is also 'business' and 'one's things'.

Italian

affare

/afˈfare/

masc.inherited

From a fare 'to do'; often 'a deal'.

Portuguese

assunto

/aˈsũtu/

masc.other source · Latin ASSŪMPTUM 'taken up'

Brazil's foreign ministry is the Ministério das Relações Exteriores; Portugal's, the Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros.

Romanian

afacere

/aˈfatʃere/

fem.inherited

Built in Romanian from a face 'to do' (FACERE), on the model of French affaire.

Catalan

afer

/əˈfe/

masc.inherited

From a fer 'to be done', exactly like French affaire from à faire.

English

affair

/əˈfɛɹ/

from Latin/French · Old French afaire (à faire 'to do')

English → Italianaffair (matter, business)affareCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

FACERE‘to do, make’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

French and Italian turned 'to do' into a noun: an affair is 'something to be done'. Spanish says asunto, 'a thing taken up'.

English relatives: affair, fact, factory

Learn it

Practice the Ideas deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esTrabaja en el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores.
  • frElle travaille au ministère des Affaires étrangères.
  • itLavora al Ministero degli Affari Esteri.
  • ptEla trabalha no Ministério das Relações Exteriores.
  • roLucrează la Ministerul Afacerilor Externe.
  • caTreballa al Ministeri d'Afers Exteriors.
  • enShe works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Latin family

FAC-, FACT-· do, make

FACERE is the busiest verb in Latin, and its participle FACTUM split cleanly in two: worn down in speech to hecho, fait, fatto, and borrowed back intact by scholars as fact, factual, faction. Spanish adds a twist of its own, turning Latin F- into a silent h- (Old Spanish fazer, fecho). Portuguese feito and Catalan fet vocalize the cluster as French does, while Romanian, true to the Eastern branch, turns -CT- into -pt-: fapt.

  • FACEREto do, make

    eshacerfrfaireitfareptfazerrofacecafer

  • FACTUMdone; a deed

    eshechofrfaititfattoptfeitorofaptcafetenfact

  • PERFECTUMcompleted, perfect

    esperfectofrparfaititperfettoptperfeitoroperfectcaperfecteenperfect

  • FACTIŌNEMa making; a party, faction

    frfaçonptfeiçãoenfashion

  • FACTIŌNEMa party, faction (learned)

    esfacciónfrfactionitfazioneptfacçãorofacțiunecafaccióenfaction

  • FACTŪRAMa making, workmanship

    esfacturafrfactureitfatturaptfaturarofacturăcafactura

Explore all Latin families

More words from the same Latin

More in Ideas

All Ideas words