"sixth" in seven languages
Meaningsixth
Spanish
/ˈseksto/
learned
Keeps the Latin x in spelling and sound, a learned touch.
French
/sizjɛm/
other source · six + -ième (Latin -ĒSIMUM)
Italian
/ˈsɛsto/
inherited
Portuguese
/ˈsestu/
inherited
The x is a Latinizing spelling, said as plain s; the old shape survives in sesta 'siesta', from SEXTA (hora).
Romanian
/al ˈʃasele̯a/
other source · șase 'six' (Latin SEX) in the ordinal frame al … -lea
Romanian builds every ordinal after 'first' this way: al doilea, al treilea, al șaselea.
Catalan
/siˈzɛ/
other source · sis 'six' (Latin SEX) + ordinal -è
English
/sɪksθ/
Indo-European kin · PIE *swéḱs
The Latin ancestor
SEXTUM‘sixth’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Italian wore the x of SEXTUS down to plain s (sesto); Spanish kept it in a learned form (sexto). French rebuilt its ordinals from the cardinals: six → sixième. Spanish siesta is the 'sixth hour' after dawn, i.e. noon.
English relatives: sextet, semester, siesta (es, 'the sixth hour')
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esVive en el sexto piso.
- frIl habite au sixième étage.
- itAbita al sesto piano.
- ptEle mora no sexto andar.
- roLocuiește la etajul al șaselea.
- caViu al sisè pis.
- enHe lives on the sixth floor.