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"October" in seven languages

MeaningOctober

Spanish

octubre

/okˈtubɾe/

masc.learned

Semi-learned: Old Spanish also had the popular form ochubre.

French

octobre

/ɔktɔbʁ/

masc.learned

It replaced the popular Old French form oitouvre.

Italian

ottobre

/otˈtobre/

masc.inherited

Portuguese

outubro

/owˈtubɾu/

masc.inherited

Latin -CT- became -ut- here: OCTŌBREM → outubro.

Romanian

octombrie

/okˈtombrie/

masc.learned

The -m- is analogical, after septembrie, noiembrie, decembrie.

Catalan

octubre

/ukˈtubɾə/

masc.learned

English

October

/ɑkˈtoʊbɚ/

from Latin/French · Latin OCTŌBER

English → ItalianOctoberottobreCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

OCTŌBREM‘the eighth month’

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

The story

Only Italian ottobre shows the regular popular CT → tt; Spanish and French had popular forms too (ochubre, oitouvre) but replaced them with the Latin spelling.

English relatives: octave, octopus, octagon

Sound laws at work

CT

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In a sentence

  • esMi cumpleaños es en octubre.
  • frMon anniversaire est en octobre.
  • itIl mio compleanno è a ottobre.
  • ptMeu aniversário é em outubro.
  • roZiua mea de naștere e în octombrie.
  • caEl meu aniversari és a l'octubre.
  • enMy birthday is in October.

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