"milk" in seven languages
Meaningmilk
Spanish
leche
/ˈletʃe/
fem.inherited
French
lait
/lɛ/
masc.inherited
Italian
latte
/ˈlatte/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
leite
/ˈlejtʃi/
masc.inherited
Romanian
lapte
/ˈlapte/
neut.inherited
Romanian turns Latin -CT- into -pt-: LACTEM → lapte, NOCTEM → noapte.
Catalan
llet
/ʎet/
fem.inherited
Feminine in Catalan: la llet.
English
milk
/mɪlk/
native English · Old English meolc
English → ItalianmilklatteNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: lactose, lactic, lactation.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
*LACTEM (Classical LAC, gen. LACTIS)‘milk’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A textbook case of the CT law: ch in Spanish, -it in French, tt in Italian. Spanish made the word feminine (la leche), while French and Italian keep it masculine; an Italian latte is just milk, not a coffee.
English relatives: lactose, lactic, lactation
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¿Tomas el café con leche?
- frTu prends du lait dans ton café ?
- itPrendi il caffè con il latte?
- ptVocê toma café com leite?
- roBei cafeaua cu lapte?
- caPrens el cafè amb llet?
- enDo you take milk in your coffee?