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"piece (of a set, a machine, a game)" in seven languages

Meaningpiece (of a set, a machine, a game)

Spanish

pieza

/ˈpjeθa/

fem.borrowed · probably Old French pièce or Occitan peça

A piece of cake is un trozo or un pedazo.

French

pièce

/pjɛs/

fem.inherited

Also a room and a coin; a piece of cake is un morceau.

Italian

pezzo

/ˈpɛttso/

masc.inherited

Used for any piece: un pezzo di torta.

Portuguese

peça

/ˈpɛsɐ/

fem.inherited

Romanian

piesă

/ˈpjesə/

fem.borrowed · French pièce

Catalan

peça

/ˈpɛsə/

fem.inherited

English

piece

/pis/

from Latin/French · Old French piece

English → Italianpiece (of a set, a machine, a game)pezzoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

*PETTIAM‘piece (a Gaulish word)’

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

The story

Not Latin at all: spoken Latin picked up *pettia from Gaulish. Italian made it masculine (pezzo); Spanish pieza probably came by way of Gallo-Romance.

English relatives: apiece

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In a sentence

  • esFalta una pieza del puzle.
  • frIl manque une pièce du puzzle.
  • itManca un pezzo del puzzle.
  • ptEstá faltando uma peça do quebra-cabeça.
  • roLipsește o piesă din puzzle.
  • caFalta una peça del trencaclosques.
  • enA piece of the puzzle is missing.

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