"bank" in seven languages
Meaningbank
Spanish
banco
/ˈbanko/
masc.inherited
Banco is also a bench; the money sense came from Italian.
French
banque
/bɑ̃k/
fem.borrowed · Italian banca
A bench in French is un banc, the inherited form.
Italian
banca
/ˈbanka/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
banco
/ˈbɐ̃ku/
masc.inherited
Romanian
bancă
/ˈbankə/
fem.borrowed · Italian banca
Catalan
banc
/baŋ/
masc.inherited
English
bank
/bæŋk/
from Latin/French · Italian banca (via French banque)
English → ItalianbankbancaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The ancestor
Germanic *bank(a)‘bench’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Medieval Italian money-changers worked at a bench, a banca; a broken one, banca rotta, gave English bankrupt (via French banqueroute). Note the genders: el banco but la banque, la banca.
English relatives: bank, bench, bankrupt, banquet
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl banco cierra los domingos.
- frLa banque est fermée le dimanche.
- itLa banca è chiusa la domenica.
- ptO banco fecha aos domingos.
- roBanca e închisă duminica.
- caEl banc tanca els diumenges.
- enThe bank is closed on Sundays.
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