"spoon" in seven languages
Meaningspoon
Spanish
cuchara
/kuˈtʃaɾa/
fem.inherited
The ch is irregular; it may have come through Mozarabic.
French
cuillère
/kɥijɛʁ/
fem.inherited
Also spelled cuiller.
Italian
cucchiaio
/kukˈkjajo/
masc.inherited
From the variant *COCLEĀRIUM, hence the -aio ending.
Portuguese
colher
/koˈʎɛh/
fem.inherited
Romanian
lingură
/ˈlingurə/
fem.other source · Latin LINGULAM 'little tongue; spoon' (inherited)
Catalan
cullera
/kuˈʎeɾə/
fem.inherited
English
spoon
/spun/
native English · Old English spōn
English → ItalianspooncucchiaioNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: cochlea.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
COCHLEĀRE‘spoon (from COCHLEA 'snail')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A Roman spoon had a pointed handle for winkling snails out of their shells, so it was named after the snail. The same snail curls inside your ear: the cochlea.
English relatives: cochlea