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"stairs, staircase" in seven languages

Meaningstairs, staircase

Spanish

escalera

/eskaˈleɾa/

fem.inherited

Also a ladder: escalera de mano.

French

escalier

/ɛskalje/

masc.borrowed · Old Occitan escalier

A ladder is une échelle, the inherited French form of SCĀLA.

Italian

scala

/ˈskala/

fem.inherited

Both staircase and ladder; often plural, le scale.

Portuguese

escada

/isˈkadɐ/

fem.inherited

Built on SCĀLA with a suffix, like Spanish escalera.

Romanian

scară

/ˈskarə/

fem.inherited

plural: scări

Intervocalic -l- turned to -r-: SCĀLA → scară.

Catalan

escala

/əsˈkalə/

fem.inherited

English

stairs

/stɛɹz/

native English · Old English stǣger

English → Italianstairs, staircasescalaNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: scale, escalate, escalator.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

SCĀLAS, SCĀLĀRIA‘steps, ladder (and its derivative 'flight of steps')’

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

The story

Spanish adds e- before s + consonant, Italian keeps the bare s-, and French — whose own form is échelle — borrowed escalier from the south.

English relatives: scale, escalate, escalator

Sound laws at work

S + consonant at the start of a word

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esSube por la escalera, el ascensor no funciona.
  • frPrends l'escalier, l'ascenseur est en panne.
  • itPrendi le scale, l'ascensore è guasto.
  • ptVai pela escada, o elevador está quebrado.
  • roUrcă pe scări, liftul nu funcționează.
  • caPuja per l'escala, que l'ascensor no funciona.
  • enTake the stairs, the lift is broken.

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