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"novel (book)" in seven languages

Meaningnovel (book)

Spanish

novela

/noˈbela/

fem.other source · Italian novella 'short story' (Latin NOVELLA 'new things')

French

roman

/ʁɔmɑ̃/

masc.inherited

Une nouvelle is a short story.

Italian

romanzo

/roˈmandzo/

masc.borrowed · Old French romanz

Novella means a short story.

Portuguese

romance

/hoˈmɐ̃si/

masc.borrowed · Old French or Old Occitan romanz

A trap: novela in Brazil is a TV soap opera.

Romanian

roman

/roˈman/

neut.borrowed · French roman

Catalan

novel·la

/nuˈbɛlə/

fem.other source · Italian novella 'short story' (Latin NOVELLA 'new things')

English

novel

/ˈnɑvəl/

other source · Italian novella 'short story'

English → Italiannovel (book)romanzoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: romance, Romance, Roman.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ROMĀNICĒ‘in the Roman way (in the vernacular)’

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

The story

French roman began as a story told in the Roman vernacular rather than in Latin, and Italian borrowed it as romanzo. English and Spanish took Italian novella 'a piece of news, a tale' instead.

English relatives: romance, Romance, Roman

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esEstá escribiendo su primera novela.
  • frElle écrit son premier roman.
  • itSta scrivendo il suo primo romanzo.
  • ptEla está escrevendo seu primeiro romance.
  • roÎși scrie primul roman.
  • caEstà escrivint la seva primera novel·la.
  • enShe is writing her first novel.

More words from the same Latin

More in School & learning

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