"nine" in seven languages
Meaningnine
Spanish
nueve
/ˈnwebe/
inherited
French
neuf
/nœf/
inherited
Neuf also means 'new' (from NOVUM): same sound law, different word.
Italian
nove
/ˈnɔve/
inherited
Portuguese
nove
/ˈnɔvi/
inherited
Romanian
nouă
/ˈnowə/
inherited
Catalan
nou
/nɔw/
inherited
Nou also means 'new' (NOVUM), the same collision as French neuf.
English
nine
/naɪn/
Indo-European kin · PIE *h₁néwn̥
English → ItalianninenoveDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: November, novena.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
NOVEM‘nine’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Short Ŏ breaks into ue / eu in Spanish and French — the same law that turned NOVUM 'new' into nuevo / neuf, so in French 'nine' and 'new' collide.
English relatives: November, novena