Skip to content

"head" in seven languages

Meaninghead

Spanish

cabeza

/kaˈbeθa/

fem.other source · Vulgar Latin *CAPITIA, from CAPUT 'head'

French

tête

/tɛt/

fem.inherited

Italian

testa

/ˈtɛsta/

fem.inherited

Also capo (CAPUT), now mostly 'boss, chief'.

Portuguese

cabeça

/kaˈbesɐ/

fem.other source · Vulgar Latin *CAPITIA, from CAPUT 'head'

Romanian

cap

/kap/

neut.other source · Latin CAPUT 'head'

plural: capete

Catalan

cap

/kap/

masc.other source · Latin CAPUT 'head'

English

head

/hɛd/

native English · Old English hēafod

English → ItalianheadtestaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: test (an assayer's pot); capital, chief (es).What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

TESTAM‘earthenware pot, shell’

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

The story

Popular slang won in French and Italian: TESTA 'pot, crock' became the head (French tête, its circumflex marking a lost s). Spanish kept CAPUT in an enlarged form, *CAPITIA.

English relatives: test (an assayer's pot); capital, chief (es)

Sound laws at work

French loses S before a consonant (^)

Learn it

Practice the The body deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esMe duele la cabeza.
  • frJ'ai mal à la tête.
  • itMi fa male la testa.
  • ptEstou com dor de cabeça.
  • roMă doare capul.
  • caEm fa mal el cap.
  • enMy head hurts.

More in The body

All The body words