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"double, twofold" in seven languages

Meaningdouble, twofold

Spanish

doble

/ˈdoble/

inherited

Also a noun: el doble 'twice as much'.

French

double

/dubl/

inherited

Italian

doppio

/ˈdoppjo/

inherited

Un doppio is also a double espresso.

Portuguese

duplo

/ˈduplu/

learned

The inherited form survives as dobro 'twice as much'.

Romanian

dublu

/ˈdublu/

borrowed · French double

Catalan

doble

/ˈdoblə/

inherited

English

double

/ˈdʌbəl/

from Latin/French · Old French doble, from Latin DUPLUM

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

The Latin ancestor

DUPLUM‘twofold’

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

The story

The PL in the middle went three ways: voiced to bl in Spanish (as in pueblo), kept in French, and doubled to ppi in Italian.

English relatives: duplicate, duplex, doublet

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esQuería una habitación doble.
  • frJe voudrais une chambre double.
  • itVorrei una camera doppia.
  • ptEu queria um quarto duplo.
  • roAș vrea o cameră dublă.
  • caVoldria una habitació doble.
  • enI'd like a double room.

More in Numbers

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