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"impressive" in seven languages

Meaningimpressive

Spanish

impresionante

/impɾesjoˈnante/

learned

French

impressionnant

/ɛ̃pʁesjɔnɑ̃/

learned

fem.: impressionnante

Italian

impressionante

/impressjoˈnante/

learned

Often also 'shocking, disturbing'; for 'impressive' notevole is common too.

Portuguese

impressionante

/ĩpɾesioˈnɐ̃tʃi/

learned

Romanian

impresionant

/impresioˈnant/

borrowed · French impressionnant

Catalan

impressionant

/impɾəsiuˈnan/

learned

English

impressive

/ɪmˈpɹɛsɪv/

from Latin/French · impress (Latin IMPRESSUS) + -ive

English → ItalianimpressiveimpressionanteCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

IMPRESSIŌNEM‘a pressing in, imprint’

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

The story

The sisters build the adjective on 'impression' plus a present participle (-ante, -ant): something that impresses. English took the shorter -ive route.

English relatives: impression, press, print

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In a sentence

  • esLa vista desde arriba es impresionante.
  • frLa vue d'en haut est impressionnante.
  • itLa vista dalla cima è impressionante.
  • ptA vista lá de cima é impressionante.
  • roPriveliștea de sus e impresionantă.
  • caLa vista des de dalt és impressionant.
  • enThe view from the top is impressive.

More words from the same Latin

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