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"enough" in seven languages

Meaningenough

Spanish

bastante

/basˈtante/

inherited

Also suficiente; bastante can also mean 'quite'.

French

assez

/ase/

other source · Latin AD SATIS 'to sufficiency'

Italian

abbastanza

/abbasˈtantsa/

inherited

Portuguese

suficiente

/sufiˈsjẽtʃi/

other source · Latin SUFFICIENTEM, learned

Brazilian bastante usually means 'a lot', not 'enough'.

Romanian

destul

/desˈtul/

other source · probably de + sătul 'full' (Latin SATULLUM)

Catalan

prou

/pɾɔw/

other source · Latin PRODE 'useful, profitable'

English

enough

/ɪˈnʌf/

native English · Old English genōg

English → ItalianenoughabbastanzaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: satisfy, satiate (from SATIS, as in French assez).What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

*BASTĀRE‘to suffice (probably from Greek bastázein 'to carry')’

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

The story

Spanish bastar and Italian bastare 'to be enough' probably come from a spoken-Latin *BASTĀRE of Greek origin; the details are disputed. French assez is AD SATIS, the SATIS of English satisfy.

English relatives: satisfy, satiate (from SATIS, as in French assez)

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In a sentence

  • esTenemos bastante tiempo.
  • frNous avons assez de temps.
  • itAbbiamo abbastanza tempo.
  • ptTemos tempo suficiente.
  • roAvem destul timp.
  • caTenim prou temps.
  • enWe have enough time.

More in Little words

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