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"less" in seven languages

Meaningless

Spanish

menos

/ˈmenos/

inherited

French

moins

/mwɛ̃/

inherited

Italian

meno

/ˈmeno/

inherited

Portuguese

menos

/ˈmenus/

inherited

Romanian

mai puțin

/maj puˈtsin/

other source · mai 'more' (Latin MAGIS) + puțin 'little', of uncertain origin

Catalan

menys

/meɲs/

inherited

English

less

/lɛs/

native English · Old English lǣs

English → ItalianlessmenoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: minus, minor, minimum.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

MINUS‘less’

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

The story

Spanish keeps the final -s of MINUS, Italian drops it as it drops every final s, and French nasalizes the vowel and keeps only the spelling.

English relatives: minus, minor, minimum

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esQuiero trabajar menos.
  • frJe veux travailler moins.
  • itVoglio lavorare di meno.
  • ptQuero trabalhar menos.
  • roVreau să muncesc mai puțin.
  • caVull treballar menys.
  • enI want to work less.

More words from the same Latin

More in Little words

All Little words words