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"evolution" in seven languages

Meaningevolution

Spanish

evolución

/eboluˈθjon/

fem.learned

French

évolution

/evɔlysjɔ̃/

fem.learned

Italian

evoluzione

/evolutˈtsjone/

fem.learned

Portuguese

evolução

/evoluˈsɐ̃w/

fem.learned

Romanian

evoluție

/evoˈlutsie/

fem.learned

Catalan

evolució

/əbulusiˈo/

fem.learned

English

evolution

/ˌɛvəˈluʃən/

from Latin/French · Latin EVOLŪTIŌNEM

English → ItalianevolutionevoluzioneCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

EVOLŪTIŌNEM‘an unrolling (of a scroll)’

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

The story

Latin EVOLŪTIŌ was the unrolling of a book-scroll, from VOLVERE 'to roll'; the biological sense is modern and spread to all four languages at once. Spot -tion = -ción = -tion = -zione.

English relatives: evolve, revolution, volume, involve

Sound laws at work

-TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esDarwin explicó la evolución de las especies.
  • frDarwin a expliqué l'évolution des espèces.
  • itDarwin ha spiegato l'evoluzione delle specie.
  • ptDarwin explicou a evolução das espécies.
  • roDarwin a explicat evoluția speciilor.
  • caDarwin va explicar l'evolució de les espècies.
  • enDarwin explained the evolution of species.

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