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"taste (flavour)" in seven languages

Meaningtaste (flavour)

Spanish

sabor

/saˈboɾ/

masc.inherited

French

goût

/gu/

masc.other source · Latin GUSTUM 'taste'

French also has saveur, the cousin of sabor, in a more literary register.

Italian

sapore

/saˈpore/

masc.inherited

Gusto is common too, especially for ice-cream flavours.

Portuguese

sabor

/saˈboh/

masc.inherited

Romanian

gust

/gust/

neut.other source · Latin GUSTUM 'taste'

Catalan

gust

/gust/

masc.other source · Latin GUSTUM 'taste'

English

taste

/teɪst/

other source · Old French taster 'to feel, touch, taste'

English → Italiantaste (flavour)saporeNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: savour, savoury, insipid.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

SAPŌREM‘taste, flavour’

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

The story

Spanish softened the p of SAPŌREM to b (sabor) while Italian kept it (sapore). French chose GUSTUS instead, whose circumflex in goût marks a lost s; English savour and gusto preserve both Latin words.

English relatives: savour, savoury, insipid

Sound laws at work

Voiceless stops between vowels soften

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In a sentence

  • esEsta sopa tiene un sabor raro.
  • frCette soupe a un goût bizarre.
  • itQuesta zuppa ha un sapore strano.
  • ptEsta sopa tem um sabor estranho.
  • roSupa asta are un gust ciudat.
  • caAquesta sopa té un gust estrany.
  • enThis soup has a strange taste.

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