"Catholic" in seven languages
MeaningCatholic
Spanish
católico
/kaˈtoliko/
learned
French
catholique
/katɔlik/
learned
Italian
cattolico
/katˈtɔliko/
learned
Italian doubles the t: cattolico.
Portuguese
católico
/kaˈtɔliku/
learned
Romanian
catolic
/kaˈtolik/
learned
Catalan
catòlic
/kəˈtɔlik/
learned
English
Catholic
/ˈkæθəlɪk/
from Latin/French · Old French catholique / Latin CATHOLICUS
English → ItalianCatholiccattolicoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
CATHOLICUM (from Greek katholikós)‘universal’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The Greek word meant 'universal' (kata 'throughout' + holos 'whole'); the Church adopted it, and all four languages took it from Church Latin. English still keeps the old sense in lower-case 'catholic tastes'.
English relatives: catholic (broad-minded), catholicity
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEs una antigua iglesia católica.
- frC'est une vieille église catholique.
- itÈ un'antica chiesa cattolica.
- ptÉ uma antiga igreja católica.
- roEste o biserică catolică veche.
- caÉs una antiga església catòlica.
- enIt's an old Catholic church.
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