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"difficulty" in seven languages

Meaningdifficulty

Spanish

dificultad

/difikulˈtad/

fem.learned

French

difficulté

/difikylte/

fem.learned

Italian

difficoltà

/diffikolˈta/

fem.learned

Portuguese

dificuldade

/dʒifikuwˈdadʒi/

fem.learned

Romanian

dificultate

/difikulˈtate/

fem.learned

Catalan

dificultat

/difikulˈtat/

fem.learned

English

difficulty

/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/

from Latin/French · Latin DIFFICULTĀTEM, via Old French

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

The Latin ancestor

DIFFICULTĀTEM‘difficulty (DIS- + FACILIS 'not easy')’

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

The story

DIFFICILIS is simply 'not FACILIS', not easy. Italian writes o where Latin had short U (difficoltà); Spanish simplifies the double f.

English relatives: difficult, facility, faculty

Sound laws at work

-TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà

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In a sentence

  • esTuvimos dificultades para encontrar el hotel.
  • frNous avons eu des difficultés à trouver l'hôtel.
  • itAbbiamo avuto difficoltà a trovare l'albergo.
  • ptTivemos dificuldade para encontrar o hotel.
  • roAm avut dificultăți să găsim hotelul.
  • caVam tenir dificultats per trobar l'hotel.
  • enWe had difficulty finding the hotel.

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