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"man" in seven languages

Meaningman

Spanish

hombre

/ˈombɾe/

masc.inherited

French

homme

/ɔm/

masc.inherited

Italian

uomo

/ˈwɔmo/

masc.inherited

plural: uomini

From the nominative HOMO; the plural uomini keeps the oblique stem HOMIN-.

Portuguese

homem

/ˈomẽj/

masc.inherited

Romanian

bărbat

/bərˈbat/

masc.other source · Latin BARBĀTUM 'bearded'

Om (from the nominative HOMO, plural oameni) means 'human being, person'; a man as opposed to a woman is a bărbat, 'a bearded one'.

Catalan

home

/ˈɔmə/

masc.inherited

English

man

/mæn/

native English · Old English mann

plural: men

English → ItalianmanuomoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: human, homicide, hominid.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

HOMINEM (nom. HOMO)‘human being, man’

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

The story

Spanish squeezed HOMINEM to hom'ne and slipped in a b (hombre, like nombre from NŌMEN). Italian uomo is the nominative HOMO, its open o broken into uo — and the French pronoun on 'one' is HOMO too.

English relatives: human, homicide, hominid

Sound laws at work

Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eu

Learn it

Practice the People deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esEse hombre es mi vecino.
  • frCet homme est mon voisin.
  • itQuell'uomo è il mio vicino.
  • ptAquele homem é meu vizinho.
  • roBărbatul acela e vecinul meu.
  • caAquell home és el meu veí.
  • enThat man is my neighbor.

More in People

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