"ocean" in seven languages
Meaningocean
Spanish
océano
/oˈθeano/
masc.learned
French
océan
/ɔseɑ̃/
masc.learned
Italian
oceano
/oˈtʃɛano/
masc.learned
Portuguese
oceano
/oseˈɐ̃nu/
masc.learned
Romanian
ocean
/otʃeˈan/
neut.learned
Catalan
oceà
/useˈa/
masc.learned
English
ocean
/ˈoʊʃən/
from Latin/French · Old French, from Latin ŌCEANUS
English → ItalianoceanoceanoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
ŌCEANUM‘the outer sea around the world (Greek ōkeanós)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
For the Greeks, Okeanos was the river encircling the whole world. Mind the stress: Spanish océano and Italian oceano stress the e, unlike English OCean.
English relatives: oceanic, Oceania
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl Pacífico es el océano más grande.
- frLe Pacifique est le plus grand océan.
- itIl Pacifico è l'oceano più grande.
- ptO Pacífico é o maior oceano.
- roPacificul este cel mai mare ocean.
- caEl Pacífic és l'oceà més gran.
- enThe Pacific is the largest ocean.