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"sensitive" in seven languages

Meaningsensitive

Spanish

sensible

/senˈsible/

learned

French

sensible

/sɑ̃sibl/

learned

Italian

sensibile

/senˈsibile/

learned

Portuguese

sensível

/sẽˈsivew/

learned

Romanian

sensibil

/senˈsibil/

learned

Catalan

sensible

/sənˈsibblə/

learned

English

sensitive

/ˈsɛnsətɪv/

other source · Old French sensitif, from Medieval Latin SENSĪTĪVUS (same root, SENTĪRE)

English → ItaliansensitivesensibileNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: sensible (false friend), sense, sensibility.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • sensible (English) means “reasonable, level-headed” · sensible (French) means “sensitive”

    Both from Latin SENSIBILIS 'perceptible, able to feel'. The sisters kept 'able to feel' (es sensible, it sensibile); English drifted to 'having good sense'.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

SENSIBILEM‘perceptible; able to feel’

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

The story

A classic false friend: sensible, sensible and sensibile mean 'sensitive'. English sensible is sensato, sensé and assennato (or ragionevole).

English relatives: sensible (false friend), sense, sensibility

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esEs muy sensible.
  • frElle est très sensible.
  • itÈ molto sensibile.
  • ptEla é muito sensível.
  • roE foarte sensibilă.
  • caÉs molt sensible.
  • enShe is very sensitive.

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