"rich" in seven languages
Meaningrich
Spanish
rico
/ˈriko/
inherited
Also 'tasty' of food: ¡qué rico!
French
riche
/ʁiʃ/
inherited
Italian
ricco
/ˈrikko/
inherited
Portuguese
rico
/ˈhiku/
inherited
Romanian
bogat
/boˈgat/
other source · Slavic bogatŭ 'rich'
Catalan
ric
/rik/
inherited
English
rich
/ɹɪtʃ/
from Latin/French · Old English rīce (same Germanic word), reinforced by Old French riche
English → ItalianrichriccoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The ancestor
Germanic *rīk- (Gothic reiks, Frankish *rīki)‘powerful, mighty’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A Germanic word meaning 'powerful', absorbed by spoken Latin from Goths and Franks — and the same word as English rich. Germanic had itself taken it from Celtic *rīx 'king', a cognate of Latin RĒX.
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEs muy rico.
- frIl est très riche.
- itÈ molto ricco.
- ptEle é muito rico.
- roE foarte bogat.
- caÉs molt ric.
- enHe's very rich.