"month" in seven languages
Meaningmonth
Spanish
mes
/mes/
masc.inherited
French
mois
/mwa/
masc.inherited
Italian
mese
/ˈmese/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
mês
/mes/
masc.inherited
Romanian
lună
/ˈlunə/
fem.other source · Latin LŪNAM 'moon'
One word for both 'moon' and 'month'; Latin MĒNSEM did not survive in Romanian.
Catalan
mes
/mes/
masc.inherited
English
month
/mʌnθ/
Indo-European kin · PIE *mḗh₁n̥s
English → ItalianmonthmeseDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: semester, trimester, menstrual.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
MĒNSEM (nom. MĒNSIS)‘month’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The n before s had already gone silent in Roman speech, so none of the sisters has it. A semester is 'six months'.
English relatives: semester, trimester, menstrual
Learn it
In a sentence
- esMe voy de vacaciones el mes que viene.
- frJe pars en vacances le mois prochain.
- itVado in vacanza il mese prossimo.
- ptVou sair de férias no mês que vem.
- roLuna viitoare plec în concediu.
- caEl mes que ve me'n vaig de vacances.
- enI'm going on holiday next month.