"foot" in seven languages
Meaningfoot
Spanish
pie
/pje/
masc.inherited
French
pied
/pje/
masc.inherited
Italian
piede
/ˈpjɛde/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
pé
/pɛ/
masc.inherited
Portuguese lost the intervocalic d altogether: PEDEM → pé.
Romanian
picior
/piˈtʃjor/
neut.other source · Latin PETIOLUM 'little foot, stalk'
plural: picioare
The same word as for the leg; 'on foot' is pe jos.
Catalan
peu
/pɛw/
masc.inherited
English
foot
/fʊt/
Indo-European kin · PIE *pṓds
plural: feet
English → ItalianfootpiedeDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: pedal, pedestrian, pedicure.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
PEDEM‘foot’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The open-e law's favourite example: PĔDEM broke into ie in all three. In French the d is only a spelling memory.
English relatives: pedal, pedestrian, pedicure
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esVoy al colegio a pie.
- frJe vais à l'école à pied.
- itVado a scuola a piedi.
- ptVou a pé para a escola.
- roMerg pe jos la școală.
- caVaig a peu a l'escola.
- enI walk to school.