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"hope" in seven languages

Meaninghope

Spanish

esperanza

/espeˈɾanθa/

fem.inherited

French

espoir

/ɛspwaʁ/

masc.inherited

Old French espoir was 'I hope' (← SPĒRŌ), turned into a noun; espérance is the loftier word.

Italian

speranza

/speˈrantsa/

fem.inherited

Portuguese

esperança

/ispeˈɾɐ̃sɐ/

fem.inherited

Romanian

speranță

/speˈrantsə/

fem.borrowed · Italian speranza

The older native word is nădejde, of Slavic origin.

Catalan

esperança

/əspəˈɾansə/

fem.inherited

English

hope

/hoʊp/

native English · Old English hopa

English → ItalianhopesperanzaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: despair, desperate.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

SPĒRĀRE‘to hope’

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

The story

Built on SPĒRĀRE 'to hope' — and Spanish esperar still means hope, wait and expect at once. Esperanto, the invented language, is named 'one who hopes'.

English relatives: despair, desperate

Sound laws at work

S + consonant at the start of a word

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In a sentence

  • esMientras hay vida, hay esperanza.
  • frTant qu'il y a de la vie, il y a de l'espoir.
  • itFinché c'è vita c'è speranza.
  • ptEnquanto há vida, há esperança.
  • roCât timp e viață, e speranță.
  • caMentre hi ha vida, hi ha esperança.
  • enWhile there's life, there's hope.

More words from the same Latin

More in Feelings

All Feelings words