"bear" in seven languages
Meaningbear
Spanish
oso
/ˈoso/
masc.inherited
French
ours
/uʁs/
masc.inherited
The final s is pronounced.
Italian
orso
/ˈorso/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
urso
/ˈuhsu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
urs
/urs/
masc.inherited
plural: urși
Catalan
ós
/os/
masc.inherited
plural: óssos
English
bear
/bɛɹ/
native English · Old English bera ('the brown one')
English → ItalianbearorsoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: ursine, Ursula ('little she-bear').What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
URSUM‘bear’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish simplified the RS cluster to a plain s (oso); Italian and French kept the r. The constellations Ursa Major and Minor are Latin's Great and Little Bear.
English relatives: ursine, Ursula ('little she-bear')
Learn it
In a sentence
- esTodavía hay osos en los Pirineos.
- frIl y a encore des ours dans les Pyrénées.
- itCi sono ancora orsi nei Pirenei.
- ptAinda há ursos nos Pireneus.
- roÎncă mai sunt urși în Pirinei.
- caEncara hi ha óssos als Pirineus.
- enThere are still bears in the Pyrenees.