"cold" in seven languages
Meaningcold
Spanish
/ˈfɾio/
inherited
French
/fʁwa/
inherited
Italian
/ˈfreddo/
inherited
Portuguese
/ˈfɾiu/
inherited
Romanian
/ˈretʃe/
other source · Latin RECENTEM 'fresh'
Catalan
/fɾet/
inherited
English
/koʊld/
native English · Old English cald
The Latin ancestor
FRĪGIDUM‘cold’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spoken Latin shortened the first vowel (probably by analogy with RĬGIDUS), so Italian has freddo with e and French froid with oi; Spanish frío lost the g between vowels.
English relatives: frigid, refrigerator
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl agua está fría.
- frL'eau est froide.
- itL'acqua è fredda.
- ptA água está fria.
- roApa e rece.
- caL'aigua està freda.
- enThe water is cold.
The Latin family
FRĪG-· cold
FRĪGIDUM was squeezed in speech to *FRIGDU, and French and Italian point to a short i (probably under the influence of RIGIDUS 'stiff'), giving froid and freddo; Spanish lost the -g- and the -d- to give frío. Centuries later the full Latin word came back as frígido, frigide, frigido, frigid — 'sexually cold' or 'frozen' in register. Portuguese frio and Catalan fred are inherited too (Catalan, like French and Italian, points to the short i); Romanian says rece, from RECENTEM 'fresh'.
FRĪGIDUMcold
esfríofrfroiditfreddoptfriocafred
FRĪGIDUMcold (learned)
esfrígidofrfrigideitfrigidoptfrígidorofrigidcafrígidenfrigid
REFRĪGERĀREto make cool again
esrefrigerarfrréfrigéreritrefrigerareptrefrigerarrorefrigeracarefrigerarenrefrigerate
FRĪGIDUM (via resfriar)a cold
esresfriadoptresfriado