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"center, centre" in seven languages

Meaningcenter, centre

Spanish

centro

/ˈθentɾo/

masc.learned

French

centre

/sɑ̃tʁ/

masc.learned

Italian

centro

/ˈtʃɛntro/

masc.learned

Portuguese

centro

/ˈsẽtɾu/

masc.learned

Romanian

centru

/ˈtʃentru/

neut.learned

Catalan

centre

/ˈsentɾə/

masc.learned

English

center

/ˈsɛntɚ/

from Latin/French · Old French centre, from Latin centrum

British spelling: centre.

English → Italiancenter, centrecentroCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

CENTRUM‘centre of a circle (Greek kéntron 'sharp point')’

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

The story

Greek kéntron was the point of a compass. The word is learned in all four, yet each still reads c before e its own way: θ in Spain, s in France, tʃ in Italy.

English relatives: central, concentrate, eccentric

Sound laws at work

C before E and IFrench vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

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In a sentence

  • esNuestro hotel está en el centro de la ciudad.
  • frNotre hôtel est dans le centre-ville.
  • itIl nostro albergo è in centro.
  • ptNosso hotel fica no centro da cidade.
  • roHotelul nostru e în centrul orașului.
  • caEl nostre hotel és al centre de la ciutat.
  • enOur hotel is in the city center.

More in Town & city

All Town & city words