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"bench" in seven languages

Meaningbench

Spanish

banco

/ˈbanko/

masc.inherited

Also a bank and a school of fish.

French

banc

/bɑ̃/

masc.inherited

Italian

panchina

/panˈkina/

fem.other source · Italian panca 'bench' (Longobard *panka, a variant of the Germanic word) + diminutive -ina

Italian banco is a counter, a school desk or a bank.

Portuguese

banco

/ˈbɐ̃ku/

masc.inherited

Romanian

bancă

/ˈbankə/

fem.borrowed · German Bank or Italian banca

Catalan

banc

/baŋ/

masc.inherited

English

bench

/bɛntʃ/

native English · Old English benc (the same Germanic word as the etymon)

English → ItalianbenchpanchinaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: bank, banquet, bankrupt.What English and Italian share

The ancestor

Germanic *bank-‘bench, raised shelf’

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

The story

Money-changers did business at a bench: Italian banco became the bank, and every language borrowed it. English bench is the native form of the same Germanic word; banquet is 'a little bench'.

English relatives: bank, banquet, bankrupt

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esNos sentamos en un banco del parque.
  • frOn s'est assis sur un banc dans le parc.
  • itCi siamo seduti su una panchina nel parco.
  • ptA gente se sentou num banco do parque.
  • roNe-am așezat pe o bancă în parc.
  • caEns vam asseure en un banc del parc.
  • enWe sat on a bench in the park.

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