"alone" in seven languages
Meaningalone
Spanish
solo
/ˈsolo/
inherited
Also an adverb, 'only' (formerly written sólo).
French
seul
/sœl/
inherited
Italian
solo
/ˈsolo/
inherited
'On my own' is usually da solo / da sola.
Portuguese
sozinho
/sɔˈziɲu/
other source · Portuguese só (Latin SŌLUM) + diminutive -zinho
Plain só means 'alone' too, but sozinho is the everyday word.
Romanian
singur
/ˈsiŋɡur/
other source · Latin SINGULUM 'one by one, single'
Catalan
sol
/sɔl/
inherited
English
alone
/əˈloʊn/
native English · Middle English al one 'all one'
English → ItalianalonesoloNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: sole, solo, solitary, solitude, desolate.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
SŌLUM‘alone, only’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian keep SŌLUM almost unchanged. French turned the long ō into eu, the same way FLŌREM became fleur.
English relatives: sole, solo, solitary, solitude, desolate
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esVive sola.
- frElle vit seule.
- itVive da sola.
- ptEla mora sozinha.
- roLocuiește singură.
- caViu sola.
- enShe lives alone.
More words from the same Latin
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