"spinach" in seven languages
Meaningspinach
Spanish
/espiˈnaka/
fem.borrowed · Andalusian Arabic isbināḫ
Usually plural: espinacas.
French
/epinaʁ/
masc.borrowed · Medieval Latin spinarchia, from Arabic
Usually plural: des épinards.
Italian
/spiˈnatʃi/
masc.borrowed · Medieval Latin spinacium, from Arabic
gli spinaci (plural)
Portuguese
/ispiˈnafɾi/
masc.borrowed · Andalusian Arabic isbināḫ
Romanian
/spaˈnak/
neut.borrowed · Turkish ıspanak (cf. Greek spanáki)
Catalan
/əspiˈnak/
masc.borrowed · Andalusian Arabic isbināḫ
English
/ˈspɪnɪtʃ/
from Latin/French · Old French espinache
The ancestor
Arabic isbānāḫ‘spinach (from Persian)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A Persian vegetable that came to Europe through Arabic. The word was reshaped everywhere to look like Latin SPĪNA 'thorn', after its prickly seeds.
Learn it
In a sentence
- esPopeye come espinacas.
- frPopeye mange des épinards.
- itBraccio di Ferro mangia gli spinaci.
- ptO Popeye come espinafre.
- roPopeye mănâncă spanac.
- caEn Popeye menja espinacs.
- enPopeye eats spinach.