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"common, shared" in seven languages

Meaningcommon, shared

Spanish

común

/koˈmun/

inherited

French

commun

/kɔmɛ̃/

inherited

fem.: commune

Italian

comune

/koˈmune/

inherited

Also a noun: il comune, the town council.

Portuguese

comum

/koˈmũ/

inherited

Romanian

comun

/koˈmun/

learned

Catalan

comú

/kuˈmu/

inherited

Catalan drops the final -n of COMMŪNEM, as in mà from MANUM.

English

common

/ˈkɑmən/

from Latin/French · Old French comun

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

The Latin ancestor

COMMŪNEM‘shared, common’

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

The story

Spanish and Italian simplified Latin MM; French dropped the final vowel and nasalized the rest, so commun ends like un.

English relatives: community, communicate, communion, commune

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelFinal vowels

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In a sentence

  • esTenemos mucho en común.
  • frOn a beaucoup de points communs.
  • itAbbiamo molto in comune.
  • ptTemos muito em comum.
  • roAvem multe în comun.
  • caTenim molt en comú.
  • enWe have a lot in common.

More words from the same Latin

More in Describing words

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