"carbon (the element)" in seven languages
Meaningcarbon (the element)
Spanish
/karˈbono/
masc.borrowed · French carbone
Carbón is coal; carbono is the element.
French
/kaʁbɔn/
masc.learned
A modern chemists' coinage; the inherited word charbon means coal.
Italian
/karˈbɔnjo/
masc.borrowed · French carbone
Carbone is coal; carbonio is the element.
Portuguese
/kahˈbonu/
masc.borrowed · French carbone
Carvão is coal: the inherited CARBŌNEM, with b → v and the -n- lost.
Romanian
/karˈbon/
neut.borrowed · French carbone
Cărbune is coal, the inherited word.
Catalan
/kəɾˈbɔni/
masc.borrowed · French carbone
Carbó is coal, the inherited word.
English
/ˈkɑɹbən/
from Latin/French · French carbone
The Latin ancestor
CARBŌNEM‘charcoal, coal’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Every sister has two words from CARBŌNEM: the old inherited one for coal (carbón, charbon, carbone) and the modern scientific one for the element. French charbon shows CA turning to cha; the learned carbone does not.
English relatives: carbonate, carbonize, carburettor
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLos diamantes están hechos de carbono.
- frLes diamants sont faits de carbone.
- itI diamanti sono fatti di carbonio.
- ptOs diamantes são feitos de carbono.
- roDiamantele sunt făcute din carbon.
- caEls diamants són de carboni.
- enDiamonds are made of carbon.