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"egg" in seven languages

Meaningegg

Spanish

huevo

/ˈwebo/

masc.inherited

The h- is purely written: it marks that the word begins with the diphthong ue.

French

œuf

/œf/

masc.inherited

plural: œufs

Plural œufs is pronounced ø: the f falls silent.

Italian

uovo

/ˈwɔvo/

masc.inherited

plural: uova (f)

l'uovo, but le uova

Portuguese

ovo

/ˈovu/

masc.inherited

plural: ovos

The plural ovos opens its vowel: ˈɔvus.

Romanian

ou

/ow/

neut.inherited

plural: ouă

Like Italian uovo → uova, Romanian keeps a Latin neuter plural: ou → ouă.

Catalan

ou

/ɔw/

masc.inherited

English

egg

/ɛg/

Indo-European kin · PIE *h₂ōwyóm

English → ItalianegguovoDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: oval, ovary, ovum.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ŌVUM (spoken *ŎVUM)‘egg’

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

The story

Classical ŌVUM had a long o, yet all three sisters diphthongize as if it were short, so spoken Latin must have said *ŏvu. Italian uova is the old Latin neuter plural OVA, which is why it looks feminine.

English relatives: oval, ovary, ovum

Sound laws at work

Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eu

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In a sentence

  • esDos huevos fritos, por favor.
  • frDeux œufs au plat, s'il vous plaît.
  • itDue uova al tegamino, per favore.
  • ptDois ovos fritos, por favor.
  • roDouă ouă prăjite, vă rog.
  • caDos ous ferrats, si us plau.
  • enTwo fried eggs, please.

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