"figure (digit)" in seven languages
Meaningfigure (digit)
Spanish
/ˈθifɾa/
fem.learned
French
/ʃifʁ/
masc.borrowed · Italian cifra (from Medieval Latin cifra)
Italian
/ˈtʃifra/
fem.learned
Portuguese
/awɡaˈɾizmu/
masc.other source · the name of the mathematician al-Khwārizmī, via Medieval Latin algorismus
Cifra is a code or a sum of money; dígito is also used.
Romanian
/ˈtʃifrə/
fem.borrowed · French chiffre and Italian cifra
Catalan
/ˈʃifɾə/
fem.learned
English
/ˈfɪɡjɚ/
other source · Old French figure, Latin FIGŪRAM 'shape'
Cipher is the English word from the same source.
The Latin ancestor
CIFRAM (Medieval Latin, from Arabic ṣifr)‘zero; literally 'empty'’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Arabic ṣifr 'empty' named the zero; Medieval Latin cifra soon meant any digit, then a secret code (English cipher). Zero is the same word again, via Italian zefiro. Portuguese algarismo comes from the name al-Khwārizmī, like algorithm.
English relatives: cipher, decipher, zero
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEscribe el número en cifras.
- frÉcris le nombre en chiffres.
- itScrivi il numero in cifre.
- ptEscreva o número em algarismos.
- roScrie numărul în cifre.
- caEscriu el nombre en xifres.
- enWrite the number in figures.