"quality" in seven languages
Meaningquality
Spanish
calidad
/kaliˈdad/
fem.learned
Its doublet cualidad means 'a quality, a trait'; calidad is 'how good something is'.
French
qualité
/kalite/
fem.learned
Italian
qualità
/kwaliˈta/
fem.learned
plural: qualità
Portuguese
qualidade
/kwaliˈdadʒi/
fem.learned
Romanian
calitate
/kaliˈtate/
fem.learned
Catalan
qualitat
/kwəliˈtat/
fem.learned
English
quality
/ˈkwɑləti/
from Latin/French · Old French qualite
English → ItalianqualityqualitàCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
QUĀLITĀTEM‘what-sort-ness (from QUĀLIS 'of what kind')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Cicero coined QUĀLITĀS to translate Greek poiótēs 'what-sort-ness'. Italian keeps the [kw]; French spells qu but says [k]; Spanish calidad lost the w even in spelling.
English relatives: quality, qualify, qualification
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLa calidad es excelente.
- frLa qualité est excellente.
- itLa qualità è eccellente.
- ptA qualidade é excelente.
- roCalitatea este excelentă.
- caLa qualitat és excel·lent.
- enThe quality is excellent.