"eagle" in seven languages
Meaningeagle
Spanish
águila
/ˈagila/
fem.learned
el águila (fem.): el before stressed a-, but las águilas · Usually classed as semi-learned.
French
aigle
/ɛgl/
masc.borrowed · Old Occitan aigla
Italian
aquila
/ˈakwila/
fem.learned
Portuguese
águia
/ˈagjɐ/
fem.inherited
Portuguese lost the intervocalic l: AQUILAM → águia.
Romanian
acvilă
/ˈakvilə/
fem.learned
Catalan
àguila
/ˈagilə/
fem.learned
English
eagle
/ˈiɡəl/
from Latin/French · Old French egle
English → ItalianeagleaquilaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
AQUILAM‘eagle’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The eagle was a standard of Roman legions and a heraldic emblem, so it stayed close to written Latin; French took its form from the south, and English eagle from French.
English relatives: aquiline, eagle (via French)
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl águila vuela sobre las montañas.
- frL'aigle vole au-dessus des montagnes.
- itL'aquila vola sopra le montagne.
- ptA águia voa sobre as montanhas.
- roAcvila zboară deasupra munților.
- caL'àguila vola sobre les muntanyes.
- enThe eagle flies over the mountains.