"eighty" in seven languages
Meaningeighty
Spanish
ochenta
/oˈtʃenta/
inherited
French
quatre-vingts
/katʁəvɛ̃/
other source · French compound 'four twenties'
Parts of Switzerland (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg) say huitante; Belgium keeps quatre-vingts.
Italian
ottanta
/otˈtanta/
inherited
Portuguese
oitenta
/ojˈtẽtɐ/
inherited
Romanian
optzeci
/optˈzetʃʲ/
other source · Romanian compound opt zeci 'eight tens'
Catalan
vuitanta
/bujˈtantə/
inherited
English
eighty
/ˈeɪti/
Indo-European kin · PIE *oḱtṓw + *déḱm̥ 'ten'
English → ItalianeightyottantaDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: octogenarian.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
OCTŌGINTĀ‘eighty’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French 'four twenties' is a relic of counting by scores (compare English 'four score and seven'); the -s drops when another number follows: quatre-vingt-un.
English relatives: octogenarian