"flat, apartment" in seven languages
Meaningflat, apartment
Spanish
/ˈpiso/
masc.other source · from pisar 'to tread' (Latin *PĪNSĀRE): floor, storey, then the flat on it
In Latin America: departamento or apartamento.
French
/apaʁtəmɑ̃/
masc.borrowed · Italian appartamento
Italian
/appartaˈmento/
masc.inherited
From appartare 'to set apart'.
Portuguese
/apahtaˈmẽtu/
masc.borrowed · Italian appartamento, probably via French appartement
Romanian
/apartaˈment/
neut.borrowed · French appartement
Catalan
/pis/
masc.other source · 'storey', from a verb 'to tread' (Latin *PĪNSĀRE), like Spanish piso
English
/əˈpɑɹtmənt/
from Latin/French · French appartement (Italian appartamento)
The Latin ancestor
PARTEM‘part (Italian a parte 'aside')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
An apartment was a set of rooms 'set apart' for someone in a palazzo; French and English took the word from Italian. Spain lives on its piso, the floor it stands on.
English relatives: apartment, part, apart
Learn it
In a sentence
- esVivimos en un piso pequeño.
- frOn habite dans un petit appartement.
- itAbitiamo in un piccolo appartamento.
- ptMoramos num apartamento pequeno.
- roLocuim într-un apartament mic.
- caVivim en un pis petit.
- enWe live in a small flat.