"complex" in seven languages
Meaningcomplex
Spanish
complejo
/komˈplexo/
learned
French
complexe
/kɔ̃plɛks/
learned
Italian
complesso
/komˈplɛsso/
learned
Portuguese
complexo
/kõˈplɛksu/
learned
Romanian
complex
/komˈpleks/
learned
Catalan
complex
/kumˈplɛks/
learned
English
complex
/kəmˈplɛks/
from Latin/French · Latin complexus
English → ItaliancomplexcomplessoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
COMPLEXUM‘embraced, woven together (COMPLECTĪ)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
COMPLEXUS was 'woven together'. Even as learned words two sisters reshaped the x: Italian assimilated it to ss (complesso), and Spanish followed the old x [ʃ] when it turned into j (complejo).
English relatives: complexity, complexion, perplex
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esEs un problema complejo.
- frC'est un problème complexe.
- itÈ un problema complesso.
- ptÉ um problema complexo.
- roE o problemă complexă.
- caÉs un problema complex.
- enIt's a complex problem.
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