"cemetery" in seven languages
Meaningcemetery
Spanish
cementerio
/θemenˈteɾjo/
masc.learned
The intrusive n is unexplained in detail; older Spanish also had cimiterio.
French
cimetière
/simtjɛʁ/
masc.learned
Italian
cimitero
/tʃimiˈtɛro/
masc.learned
Portuguese
cemitério
/semiˈtɛɾju/
masc.learned
Romanian
cimitir
/tʃimiˈtir/
neut.borrowed · Medieval Greek koimitírion
plural: cimitire
Catalan
cementiri
/səmənˈtiɾi/
masc.learned
English
cemetery
/ˈsɛmətɛɹi/
from Latin/French · Late Latin, via Old French cimetiere
English → ItaliancemeterycimiteroCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
COEMĒTĒRIUM‘burial ground (from Greek koimētḗrion 'sleeping place')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Early Christians called the graveyard a 'dormitory', a place where the dead sleep until the resurrection.
English relatives: cemetery