Skip to content

"pink" in seven languages

Meaningpink

Spanish

rosa

/ˈrosa/

learned

Often invariable as a colour (camisas rosa); rosado is also used.

French

rose

/ʁoz/

learned

Italian

rosa

/ˈrɔza/

learned

Invariable as a colour: magliette rosa.

Portuguese

rosa

/ˈhɔzɐ/

learned

Invariable as a colour (camisas rosa); Portuguese never diphthongized short o, so the shape alone gives nothing away.

Romanian

roz

/roz/

borrowed · French rose

Invariable: o rochie roz.

Catalan

rosa

/ˈrɔzə/

learned

Invariable as a colour: unes camises rosa.

English

pink

/pɪŋk/

other source · the dianthus flower (16th c., origin uncertain)

English → ItalianpinkrosaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: rose, rosary, rosé.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ROSAM‘rose’

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

The story

Pink is just 'rose'. Latin ROSA had a short o that should have become ue / eu / uo; the flower's name was kept close to Latin by the Church and by poets, so all three forms are learned or semi-learned.

English relatives: rose, rosary, rosé

Learn it

Practice the Colors deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esPintó su habitación de rosa.
  • frElle a peint sa chambre en rose.
  • itHa dipinto la sua camera di rosa.
  • ptEla pintou o quarto de rosa.
  • roȘi-a vopsit camera în roz.
  • caVa pintar la seva habitació de color rosa.
  • enShe painted her room pink.

More words from the same Latin

More in Colors

All Colors words