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"definition" in seven languages

Meaningdefinition

Spanish

definición

/definiˈθjon/

fem.learned

French

définition

/definisjɔ̃/

fem.learned

Italian

definizione

/definiˈtsjone/

fem.learned

Portuguese

definição

/definiˈsɐ̃w/

fem.learned

Romanian

definiție

/defiˈnitsie/

fem.learned

Catalan

definició

/dəfinisiˈo/

fem.learned

English

definition

/dɛfəˈnɪʃən/

from Latin/French · Latin DĒFĪNĪTIŌNEM, partly via Old French

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

The Latin ancestor

DĒFĪNĪTIŌNEM‘a marking of boundaries’

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

The story

FĪNIS was a boundary: to define is to draw the limits of a word. The -TIŌNEM ending gives -ción, -tion, -zione.

English relatives: define, finite, final, finish

Sound laws at work

-TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón

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In a sentence

  • esBusca la definición en el diccionario.
  • frCherche la définition dans le dictionnaire.
  • itCerca la definizione nel dizionario.
  • ptProcure a definição no dicionário.
  • roCaută definiția în dicționar.
  • caBusca la definició al diccionari.
  • enLook up the definition in the dictionary.

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