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"space" in seven languages

Meaningspace

Spanish

espacio

/esˈpaθjo/

masc.learned

French

espace

/ɛspas/

masc.learned

Room in a car or a flat is usually la place.

Italian

spazio

/ˈspattsjo/

masc.learned

Portuguese

espaço

/esˈpasu/

masc.inherited

Romanian

spațiu

/ˈspatsju/

neut.learned

Catalan

espai

/əsˈpaj/

masc.inherited

English

space

/speɪs/

from Latin/French · Old French espace

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

The Latin ancestor

SPATIUM‘room, extent, distance’

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

The story

Learned, yet still marked by the s-impura rule: Spanish and French put a vowel before sp- (espacio, espace), Italian keeps the bare s.

English relatives: spacious, spatial

Sound laws at work

S + consonant at the start of a word

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esLos astronautas viven en el espacio.
  • frLes astronautes vivent dans l'espace.
  • itGli astronauti vivono nello spazio.
  • ptOs astronautas vivem no espaço.
  • roAstronauții trăiesc în spațiu.
  • caEls astronautes viuen a l'espai.
  • enThe astronauts live in space.

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