"son-in-law" in seven languages
Meaningson-in-law
Spanish
yerno
/ˈʝeɾno/
masc.inherited
French
gendre
/ʒɑ̃dʁ/
masc.inherited
Italian
genero
/ˈdʒɛnero/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
genro
/ˈʒẽhu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
ginere
/ˈdʒinere/
masc.inherited
Catalan
gendre
/ˈʒɛndɾə/
masc.inherited
A d slipped in between n and r, exactly as in French gendre.
English
son-in-law
/ˈsʌn ɪn lɔ/
native English · Middle English sone in lawe
plural: sons-in-law
English → Italianson-in-lawgeneroNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
GENERUM‘son-in-law’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
In Spanish the open e of GENERUM broke into ie and the g softened to a y-sound: yerno. French slipped a d into gendre (n'r → ndr, as in tendre); Italian genero stays close to Latin.
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esSu yerno es italiano.
- frLeur gendre est italien.
- itIl loro genero è italiano.
- ptO genro deles é italiano.
- roGinerele lor e italian.
- caEl seu gendre és italià.
- enTheir son-in-law is Italian.