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"ceremony" in seven languages

Meaningceremony

Spanish

ceremonia

/θeɾeˈmonja/

fem.learned

French

cérémonie

/seʁemɔni/

fem.learned

Italian

cerimonia

/tʃeriˈmɔnja/

fem.learned

Portuguese

cerimônia

/seɾiˈmonjɐ/

fem.learned

European Portuguese writes cerimónia.

Romanian

ceremonie

/tʃereˈmonie/

fem.borrowed · French cérémonie

Catalan

cerimònia

/səɾiˈmɔniə/

fem.learned

English

ceremony

/ˈsɛɹəmoʊni/

from Latin/French · Old French ceremonie, from Latin

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

The Latin ancestor

CAERIMŌNIAM‘sacred rite’

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

The story

Even in a learned word the c before e splits three ways: Spanish [θ], French [s], Italian [tʃ].

English relatives: ceremonial, ceremonious

Sound laws at work

C before E and I

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In a sentence

  • esLa ceremonia empieza a mediodía.
  • frLa cérémonie commence à midi.
  • itLa cerimonia inizia a mezzogiorno.
  • ptA cerimônia começa ao meio-dia.
  • roCeremonia începe la prânz.
  • caLa cerimònia comença a migdia.
  • enThe ceremony starts at noon.

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