"coast" in seven languages
Meaningcoast
Spanish
costa
/ˈkosta/
fem.inherited
French
côte
/kot/
fem.inherited
Also 'rib' and 'slope': la Côte d'Azur.
Italian
costa
/ˈkɔsta/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
costa
/ˈkɔstɐ/
fem.inherited
Brazilians often say litoral for the seaside.
Romanian
coastă
/ˈko̯astə/
fem.inherited
Coastă still also means 'rib'; a summer at the seaside is pe litoral.
Catalan
costa
/ˈkɔstə/
fem.inherited
English
coast
/koʊst/
from Latin/French · Old French coste
English → ItaliancoastcostaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
COSTAM‘rib, side’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
COSTA was a rib, then the side of anything, then the side of the land facing the sea. French dropped the s and left a circumflex (côte); the rib survives in côtelette, English cutlet.
English relatives: costal, intercostal, cutlet (French côtelette)
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esPasamos el verano en la costa.
- frOn a passé l'été sur la côte.
- itAbbiamo passato l'estate sulla costa.
- ptPassamos o verão na costa.
- roAm petrecut vara pe litoral.
- caVam passar l'estiu a la costa.
- enWe spent the summer on the coast.