"dress" in seven languages
Meaningdress
Spanish
/besˈtido/
masc.inherited
French
/ʁɔb/
fem.other source · Frankish *rauba 'spoils, booty'
Italian
/vesˈtito/
masc.inherited
Also a man's suit.
Portuguese
/vesˈtʃidu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
/ˈrokie/
fem.other source · of Slavic origin (compare Bulgarian roklja)
plural: rochii
Catalan
/bəsˈtit/
masc.inherited
Also a man's suit; Central Catalan has no v sound.
English
/dɹɛs/
other source · Old French dresser 'arrange'
Watch out: false friends
ropa (Spanish) means “clothes” · robe (French) means “dress”
Both from Germanic *rauba 'booty, spoils' — clothes being what was stripped from the defeated (Spanish robar 'to steal' is the same root). Spanish generalized it; French narrowed it to one garment.
The Latin ancestor
VESTĪTUM‘clothed (participle of VESTĪRE)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian call a dress 'the clothed (thing)'; French robe is plunder again — the same Germanic root as Spanish ropa.
English relatives: vest, vestment, invest
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡Qué vestido tan bonito!
- frQuelle jolie robe !
- itChe bel vestito!
- ptQue vestido lindo!
- roCe rochie frumoasă!
- caQuin vestit tan bonic!
- enWhat a lovely dress!