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"poetry" in seven languages

Meaningpoetry

Spanish

poesía

/poeˈsia/

fem.learned

French

poésie

/pɔezi/

fem.learned

Italian

poesia

/poeˈzia/

fem.learned

Also a single poem: imparare una poesia a memoria.

Portuguese

poesia

/poeˈziɐ/

fem.learned

Romanian

poezie

/poeˈzie/

fem.learned

Catalan

poesia

/puəˈziə/

fem.learned

English

poetry

/ˈpoʊətɹi/

from Latin/French · Old French poetrie (Medieval Latin poetria, from POĒTA 'poet', same Greek family)

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

The Latin ancestor

POĒSIM (nom. POĒSIS)‘poetry (Greek poíēsis 'a making')’

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

The story

Greek poíēsis just meant 'making': a poet was a maker. Italian uses una poesia for a single poem too, where Spanish and French say poema and poème.

English relatives: poesy, poem, poet, poetic

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In a sentence

  • esLee poesía todas las noches.
  • frElle lit de la poésie tous les soirs.
  • itOgni sera legge poesie.
  • ptEla lê poesia toda noite.
  • roCitește poezie în fiecare seară.
  • caLlegeix poesia cada vespre.
  • enShe reads poetry every evening.

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