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"anniversary" in seven languages

Meaninganniversary

Spanish

aniversario

/anibeɾˈsaɾjo/

masc.learned

French

anniversaire

/anivɛʁsɛʁ/

masc.learned

Also, and above all, 'birthday': joyeux anniversaire !

Italian

anniversario

/anniverˈsarjo/

masc.learned

Portuguese

aniversário

/anivehˈsaɾju/

masc.learned

On its own it usually means 'birthday', as French anniversaire does.

Romanian

aniversare

/aniverˈsare/

fem.borrowed · French anniversaire

Catalan

aniversari

/ənibərˈsaɾi/

masc.learned

Also the everyday word for 'birthday'.

English

anniversary

/ænəˈvɝsəɹi/

from Latin/French · Latin ANNIVERSĀRIUS, via Old French

English → ItaliananniversaryanniversarioCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ANNIVERSĀRIUM‘returning every year (ANNUS + VERTERE)’

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

The story

The year that 'turns back round'. Watch French: anniversaire is also a birthday, which Spanish and Italian call by a different word (cumpleaños, compleanno).

English relatives: annual, annals, version, reverse

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esHoy es nuestro aniversario de boda.
  • frAujourd'hui, c'est notre anniversaire de mariage.
  • itOggi è il nostro anniversario di matrimonio.
  • ptHoje é nosso aniversário de casamento.
  • roAzi e aniversarea noastră de căsătorie.
  • caAvui és el nostre aniversari de casament.
  • enToday is our wedding anniversary.

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