"lazy" in seven languages
Meaninglazy
Spanish
/peɾeˈθoso/
inherited
From pereza 'laziness'; vago is the everyday word in Spain, flojo in parts of Latin America.
French
/paʁɛsø/
inherited
fem.: paresseuse
Also the sloth.
Italian
/ˈpiɡro/
inherited
From the adjective PIGRUM itself; pigrizia is 'laziness'.
Portuguese
/pɾeɡiˈsozu/
inherited
Preguiça 'laziness' is also the sloth.
Romanian
/ˈleneʃ/
other source · lene 'laziness', from Slavic lěnĭ
Catalan
/mənˈdɾos/
other source · mandra 'laziness', of uncertain origin
English
/ˈleɪzi/
native English · uncertain, perhaps Low German
The Latin ancestor
PIGRITIAM (from PIGER 'sluggish')‘sluggishness’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Latin PIGRITIA 'sluggishness' lost its g on the way to pereza and paresse, but Portuguese preguiça kept it (and named the sloth after it). Italian kept the plain adjective PIGER: pigro.
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡No seas perezoso!
- frNe sois pas paresseux !
- itNon essere pigro!
- ptNão seja preguiçoso!
- roNu fi leneș!
- caNo siguis mandrós!
- enDon't be lazy!