"fish" in seven languages
Meaningfish
Spanish
pez
/peθ/
masc.inherited
plural: peces
A live fish is a pez; once caught and on the plate it is pescado.
French
poisson
/pwasɔ̃/
masc.inherited
From an enlarged form *PISCIŌNEM.
Italian
pesce
/ˈpeʃʃe/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
peixe
/ˈpejʃi/
masc.inherited
Unlike Spanish (pez / pescado), peixe is also the fish you eat.
Romanian
pește
/ˈpeʃte/
masc.inherited
plural: pești
Catalan
peix
/peʃ/
masc.inherited
English
fish
/fɪʃ/
Indo-European kin · PIE *peysk-
plural: fish
English → ItalianfishpesceDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: Pisces, piscine.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
PISCEM (nom. PISCIS)‘fish’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Careful in French: poisson (fish, [s]) and poison (poison, [z]) differ by a single s.
English relatives: Pisces, piscine
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLos viernes comemos pescado.
- frLe vendredi, on mange du poisson.
- itIl venerdì mangiamo pesce.
- ptÀs sextas a gente come peixe.
- roVinerea mâncăm pește.
- caEls divendres mengem peix.
- enWe eat fish on Fridays.