"species" in seven languages
Meaningspecies
Spanish
/esˈpeθje/
fem.learned
French
/ɛspɛs/
fem.learned
En espèces means 'in cash'.
Italian
/ˈspɛtʃe/
fem.learned
plural: specie
Invariable: le specie.
Portuguese
/isˈpɛsii/
fem.learned
Romanian
/ˈspetʃie/
fem.learned
Catalan
/əsˈpɛsiə/
fem.learned
English
/ˈspiʃiz/
from Latin/French · Latin SPECIĒS
Singular and plural are the same.
The Latin ancestor
SPECIEM‘appearance, kind (SPECERE 'to look')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A kind of thing is what it looks like: SPECIĒS comes from 'to look'. The worn-down popular twin is French épice and English spice — spices were once just 'goods of a kind'.
English relatives: special, specimen, specific, spice
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEsta especie está en peligro de extinción.
- frCette espèce est menacée d'extinction.
- itQuesta specie è a rischio di estinzione.
- ptEsta espécie está em perigo de extinção.
- roAceastă specie este pe cale de dispariție.
- caAquesta espècie està en perill d'extinció.
- enThis species is in danger of extinction.
The Latin family
SPEC-, SPECT-· look
SPECIĒS 'appearance, kind' split into a popular 'spice' (goods sorted by kind: especia, épice, spezie) and a learned 'species' (especie, espèce, specie). RESPECTUS 'a looking back' did the same: learned respect beside French répit and English respite, 'a second look, a delay'. Portuguese espelho 'mirror' and respeito show the popular branch too.
SPECIEMkind → wares, spice
esespeciafrépiceitspezieptespeciariacaespèciaenspice
SPECIEMkind, species (learned)
esespeciefrespèceitspecieptespécierospeciecaespècieenspecies
SPECULUMmirror
esespejoitspecchioptespelhoenspeculum
RESPECTUMa looking back, regard
esrespetofrrespectitrispettoptrespeitororespectcarespecteenrespect
SPECTĀCULUMa show
esespectáculofrspectacleitspettacoloptespetáculorospectacolcaespectacleenspectacle