"door" in seven languages
Meaningdoor
Spanish
puerta
/ˈpweɾta/
fem.inherited
French
porte
/pɔʁt/
fem.inherited
Italian
porta
/ˈpɔrta/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
porta
/ˈpɔhtɐ/
fem.inherited
Romanian
ușă
/ˈuʃə/
fem.other source · Latin OSTIUM 'door', spoken *USTIUM (inherited)
Catalan
porta
/ˈpɔɾtə/
fem.inherited
English
door
/dɔɹ/
native English · Old English duru
English → ItaliandoorportaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: portal, porter, porch.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
PORTAM‘city gate’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish breaks stressed Ŏ into ue even in a closed syllable (puer-ta); Italian and French only did so in open syllables, so they keep a plain open o. Latin PORTA was a city gate; a house door was OSTIUM, kept in Italian uscio.
English relatives: portal, porter, porch
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esCierra la puerta, por favor.
- frFerme la porte, s'il te plaît.
- itChiudi la porta, per favore.
- ptFecha a porta, por favor.
- roÎnchide ușa, te rog.
- caTanca la porta, si us plau.
- enClose the door, please.