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"planet" in seven languages

Meaningplanet

Spanish

planeta

/plaˈneta/

masc.learned

Masculine despite the -a: el planeta.

French

planète

/planɛt/

fem.learned

Italian

pianeta

/pjaˈneta/

masc.learned

Learned, yet it shows the popular pi- for pl-.

Portuguese

planeta

/plaˈnetɐ/

masc.learned

Romanian

planetă

/plaˈnetə/

fem.learned

Catalan

planeta

/pləˈnetə/

masc.learned

English

planet

/ˈplænɪt/

from Latin/French · Old French planete, from Late Latin

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

The Latin ancestor

PLANĒTAM (nom. PLANĒTA)‘wandering star (from Greek planḗtēs 'wanderer')’

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

The story

Planets were the stars that wander across the sky. Spanish and Italian keep the Greek masculine (el planeta, il pianeta); French made it feminine.

English relatives: planetary

Sound laws at work

CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a word

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esMarte es el planeta rojo.
  • frMars est la planète rouge.
  • itMarte è il pianeta rosso.
  • ptMarte é o planeta vermelho.
  • roMarte este planeta roșie.
  • caMart és el planeta vermell.
  • enMars is the red planet.

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