"darkness" in seven languages
Meaningdarkness
Spanish
oscuridad
/oskuɾiˈdad/
fem.learned
French
obscurité
/ɔpskyʁite/
fem.learned
Italian
oscurità
/oskuriˈta/
fem.learned
Everyday speech prefers il buio 'the dark'.
Portuguese
escuridão
/iskuɾiˈdɐ̃w/
fem.other source · escuro 'dark' (Latin OBSCŪRUM) + -idão
Romanian
întuneric
/ɨntuˈnerik/
neut.other source · Latin *INTENEBRICUM (TENEBRAE 'darkness')
Catalan
foscor
/fusˈko/
fem.other source · fosc 'dark' (Latin FUSCUM)
English
darkness
/ˈdɑɹknəs/
native English · Old English deorc + -ness
English → ItaliandarknessoscuritàNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: obscure, obscurity.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
OBSCŪRITĀTEM‘darkness, obscurity’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian dropped the b of OBSCŪRUS even in this bookish word (as in oscuro); French keeps the Latin spelling. English obscurity is the same word in a figurative sense.
English relatives: obscure, obscurity
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl gato ve en la oscuridad.
- frLe chat voit dans l'obscurité.
- itIl gatto vede nell'oscurità.
- ptO gato enxerga na escuridão.
- roPisica vede în întuneric.
- caEl gat hi veu a la foscor.
- enThe cat sees in the darkness.