"life" in seven languages
Meaninglife
Spanish
vida
/ˈbida/
fem.inherited
French
vie
/vi/
fem.inherited
Italian
vita
/ˈvita/
fem.inherited
Portuguese
vida
/ˈvidɐ/
fem.inherited
Romanian
viață
/ˈvjatsə/
fem.inherited
From a spoken variant *VĪTIA; the -ți- gave ț.
Catalan
vida
/ˈbidə/
fem.inherited
English
life
/laɪf/
native English · Old English līf
English → ItalianlifevitaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: vital, vitamin, curriculum vitae.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
VĪTAM‘life’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The classic lenition ladder in one word: Italian keeps the t, Spanish softens it to d, French loses it altogether. Spanish v sounds like b.
English relatives: vital, vitamin, curriculum vitae
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLa vida es bella.
- frLa vie est belle.
- itLa vita è bella.
- ptA vida é bela.
- roViața e frumoasă.
- caLa vida és bella.
- enLife is beautiful.