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"rib" in seven languages

Meaningrib

Spanish

costilla

/kosˈtiʎa/

fem.inherited

From the diminutive *COSTELLA; costa is the coast.

French

côte

/kot/

fem.inherited

Also the coast and a slope; a pork chop is une côte de porc.

Italian

costola

/ˈkɔstola/

fem.inherited

From *COSTULA; costa is the coast.

Portuguese

costela

/kosˈtɛlɐ/

fem.inherited

From *COSTELLA; costa is the coast (and the back).

Romanian

coastă

/ˈko̯astə/

fem.inherited

plural: coaste

Also a slope or hillside.

Catalan

costella

/kusˈteʎə/

fem.inherited

From *COSTELLA; costa is the coast.

English

rib

/ɹɪb/

native English · Old English ribb

English → ItalianribcostolaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: coast, costal, intercostal.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

COSTAM‘rib, side’

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

The story

COSTA was a rib and then any flank — of a hill or of the land, which is how English got coast from Old French coste. French côte still means both; its circumflex marks the lost s.

English relatives: coast, costal, intercostal

Sound laws at work

French loses S before a consonant (^)Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eu

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esSe rompió una costilla jugando al rugby.
  • frIl s'est cassé une côte en jouant au rugby.
  • itSi è rotto una costola giocando a rugby.
  • ptEle quebrou uma costela jogando rúgbi.
  • roȘi-a rupt o coastă jucând rugby.
  • caEs va trencar una costella jugant a rugbi.
  • enHe broke a rib playing rugby.

More words from the same Latin

More in The body

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