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"sense" in seven languages

Meaningsense

Spanish

sentido

/senˈtido/

masc.other source · participle of sentir (Latin SENTĪRE 'to feel')

French

sens

/sɑ̃s/

masc.learned

Also 'direction': sens unique, 'one-way'.

Italian

senso

/ˈsɛnso/

masc.learned

Portuguese

senso

/ˈsẽsu/

masc.learned

Senso de humor is the fixed phrase; for 'meaning' Portuguese says sentido.

Romanian

simț

/simts/

neut.other source · Romanian simți 'to feel' (Latin SENTĪRE)

Catalan

sentit

/sənˈtit/

masc.other source · participle of sentir (Latin SENTĪRE 'to feel')

English

sense

/sɛns/

from Latin/French · Old French sens, from Latin sensus

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

The Latin ancestor

SENSUM‘feeling, perception (from SENTĪRE)’

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

The story

Spanish sentido is literally 'felt', the participle of sentir; French and Italian kept the Latin noun SENSUS with its n, which a popular word would have lost (MĒNSEM → mois, mese).

English relatives: sensation, sensible, sensitive, sentiment

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esTiene un gran sentido del humor.
  • frIl a un grand sens de l'humour.
  • itHa un grande senso dell'umorismo.
  • ptEle tem um ótimo senso de humor.
  • roAre un mare simț al umorului.
  • caTé un gran sentit de l'humor.
  • enHe has a great sense of humor.

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