"lucky" in seven languages
Meaninglucky
Spanish
/afoɾtuˈnado/
learned
Built on learned fortuna; tener suerte 'to have luck' is the everyday way to say it.
French
/ʃɑ̃sø/
other source · French chance 'luck' (Vulgar Latin *CADENTIA 'the fall of the dice')
fem.: chanceuse
Italian
/fortuˈnato/
learned
Portuguese
/sohˈtudu/
other source · sorte 'luck' (Latin SORTEM 'lot')
Colloquial; ter sorte 'to be lucky' is the usual phrase, afortunado more formal.
Romanian
/noroˈkos/
other source · noroc 'luck', from Slavic (Old Church Slavonic narokŭ)
fem.: norocoasă
Catalan
/əfurtuˈnat/
learned
Tenir sort 'to have luck' is the everyday phrase.
English
/ˈlʌki/
other source · luck, from Middle Dutch
The Latin-based synonym is fortunate.
The Latin ancestor
FORTŪNĀTUM‘blessed by fortune’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian are 'fortunate'; French is 'chancy', from the way the dice fall (CADERE 'to fall').
English relatives: fortunate, fortune
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEs un hombre afortunado.
- frC'est un homme chanceux.
- itÈ un uomo fortunato.
- ptEle é um homem sortudo.
- roE un om norocos.
- caÉs un home afortunat.
- enHe is a lucky man.