"beautiful" in seven languages
Meaningbeautiful
Spanish
/eɾˈmoso/
other source · Latin FORMŌSUM 'shapely'
Bonito is the everyday 'pretty'; bello is literary; lindo is very common in Latin America.
French
/bo/
inherited
fem.: belle
Bel before a vowel: un bel homme.
Italian
/ˈbɛllo/
inherited
Changes like the article: bel tempo, bello stato, begli occhi.
Portuguese
/boˈnitu/
other source · a diminutive of bom 'good' (BONUM), probably through Spanish bonito
Lindo is just as common in Brazil.
Romanian
/fruˈmos/
other source · Latin FORMŌSUM 'shapely'
fem.: frumoasă
The same FORMŌSUM as Spanish hermoso, with the r and the o swapped places.
Catalan
/buˈnik/
other source · Catalan bo 'good' (BONUM) + -ic
English
/ˈbjutəfəl/
from Latin/French · Old French beauté (+ native -ful)
The Latin ancestor
BELLUM‘pretty, nice’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
BELLUS was colloquial 'pretty' (classical PULCHER died out). Spanish chose FORMŌSUS 'well-shaped', with F- → h- (Portuguese formoso keeps the f). French vocalized the l: bel → beau.
English relatives: belle, embellish (BELLUM); form, formal (FORMŌSUM)
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡Qué vista tan bonita!
- frQuelle belle vue !
- itChe bella vista!
- ptQue vista bonita!
- roCe priveliște frumoasă!
- caQuina vista més bonica!
- enWhat a beautiful view!