"one" in seven languages
Meaningone
Spanish
uno
/ˈuno/
inherited
fem.: una
Shortened to un before a masculine noun: un libro.
French
un
/ɛ̃/
inherited
fem.: une
Italian
uno
/ˈuno/
inherited
fem.: una
Portuguese
um
/ũ/
inherited
fem.: uma
Romanian
unu
/ˈunu/
inherited
fem.: una
Unu is the counting form; as an article it is un, feminine o.
Catalan
un
/un/
inherited
fem.: una
English
one
/wʌn/
Indo-European kin · PIE *óynos
English → ItalianoneunoDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: unit, unique, union, unanimous.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
ŪNUM‘one’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The number 'one' became the indefinite article in all three sisters — something Latin never had.
English relatives: unit, unique, union, unanimous
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esUn café y dos cruasanes.
- frUn café et deux croissants.
- itUn caffè e due cornetti.
- ptUm café e dois croissants.
- roO cafea și două cornuri.
- caUn cafè i dos croissants.
- enOne coffee and two croissants.