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"disorder (mess, lack of order)" in seven languages

Meaningdisorder (mess, lack of order)

Spanish

desorden

/deˈsoɾden/

masc.inherited

Prefix des- + orden.

French

désordre

/dezɔʁdʁ/

masc.inherited

Prefix dés- + ordre.

Italian

disordine

/diˈzordine/

masc.inherited

Prefix dis- + ordine.

Portuguese

desordem

/deˈzɔhdẽj/

fem.inherited

Feminine, like ordem: a desordem.

Romanian

dezordine

/deˈzordine/

fem.borrowed · French désordre, reshaped after ordine

Catalan

desordre

/dəˈzɔɾdɾə/

masc.inherited

English

disorder

/dɪsˈɔɹdɚ/

from Latin/French · Old French desordre

English → Italiandisorder (mess, lack of order)disordineCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ORDINEM (with the prefix DIS-)‘row, rank, order’

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

The story

Each language put its prefix on its own word for order. ORDINEM wore down differently: orden lost a vowel, French ordre turned n into r. A medical disorder is trastorno, trouble, disturbo.

English relatives: order, ordinary, coordinate

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In a sentence

  • esLa habitación estaba en completo desorden.
  • frLa chambre était en plein désordre.
  • itLa stanza era in completo disordine.
  • ptO quarto estava em completa desordem.
  • roCamera era în dezordine totală.
  • caL'habitació estava en un desordre total.
  • enThe room was in complete disorder.

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