"nice to meet you" in seven languages

Meaningnice to meet you

Spanish

encantado

/enkanˈtado/

inherited

A woman says encantada; also mucho gusto.

French

enchanté

/ɑ̃ʃɑ̃te/

inherited

A woman writes enchantée.

Italian

piacere

/pjaˈtʃere/

other source · Latin PLACĒRE 'to please' ('a pleasure')

Portuguese

muito prazer

/ˈmũjtu pɾaˈzeh/

other source · Latin PLACĒRE 'to please' ('a pleasure')

Romanian

încântat

/ɨnkɨnˈtat/

inherited

A woman says încântată.

Catalan

encantat

/əŋkənˈtat/

inherited

A woman says encantada.

English

nice to meet you

/naɪs tə mit ju/

other source · Old French nice (Latin NESCIUM 'ignorant')

English → Italiannice to meet youpiacereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: enchant, incantation, chant.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

INCANTĀRE‘to chant a spell over’

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

The story

Spanish and French say 'enchanted' — literally bewitched, from INCANTĀRE (CANERE 'to sing'); French turned the ca into cha. Italian simply says 'a pleasure'.

English relatives: enchant, incantation, chant

Sound laws at work

French CA becomes cha

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In a sentence

es—Esta es Lucía. —¡Encantado!
fr— Je te présente Lucie. — Enchanté !
it— Ti presento Lucia. — Piacere!
pt— Esta é a Lúcia. — Muito prazer!
ro— Ea e Lucia. — Încântat!
ca— Aquesta és la Lucía. — Encantat!
en— This is Lucía. — Nice to meet you!

The Latin family

CAN-, CANT-· sing

CANERE 'to sing' was replaced in speech by its frequentative CANTĀRE, which survives everywhere. French palatalized CA- to cha- (chanter, chanson, enchanter), and English borrowed those French shapes; Spanish and Italian kept the hard c. Portuguese and Catalan kept the hard c too; Romanian cânta raised the a before n to â.

CANTĀREto sing
escantarfrchanteritcantareptcantarrocântacacantarenchant
CANTIŌNEMsong
escanciónfrchansonitcanzoneptcançãocacançó
CANTUMa song, singing
escantofrchantitcantoptcantorocântcacantencanto
INCANTĀREto sing a spell over
esencantarfrenchanteritincantareptencantarroîncântacaencantarenenchant
ACCENTUMa 'singing to', intonation
esacentofraccentitaccentoptacentoroaccentcaaccentenaccent

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