"professor, teacher" in seven languages
Meaningprofessor, teacher
Spanish
/pɾofeˈsoɾ/
masc.learned
fem.: profesora
French
/pʁɔfesœʁ/
masc.learned
Colloquially le/la prof; professeure is the usual feminine in France today.
Italian
/profesˈsore/
masc.learned
fem.: professoressa
Portuguese
/pɾofeˈsoh/
masc.learned
Used for any teacher, from primary school up.
Romanian
/profeˈsor/
masc.learned
Catalan
/pɾufəˈso/
masc.learned
English
/pɹəˈfɛsɚ/
from Latin/French · Latin PROFESSOR, partly via Old French
The Latin ancestor
PROFESSŌREM‘public teacher (one who professes)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Trap for English speakers: in the sisters a professor is any secondary-school teacher, not just a university chair. For primary school they say maestro, maître/instituteur, maestro.
English relatives: profess, profession, professional
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In a sentence
- esNuestro profesor habla cuatro idiomas.
- frNotre professeur parle quatre langues.
- itIl nostro professore parla quattro lingue.
- ptNosso professor fala quatro línguas.
- roProfesorul nostru vorbește patru limbi.
- caEl nostre professor parla quatre llengües.
- enOur professor speaks four languages.