"terrible" in seven languages
Meaningterrible
Spanish
terrible
/teˈrible/
learned
French
terrible
/tɛʁibl/
learned
Colloquially it can mean 'great': c'est pas terrible = it's not great.
Italian
terribile
/terˈribile/
learned
Portuguese
terrível
/teˈhivew/
learned
Romanian
teribil
/teˈribil/
learned
Catalan
terrible
/təˈriblə/
learned
English
terrible
/ˈtɛɹəbəl/
from Latin/French · Old French terrible, from Latin TERRIBILIS
English → ItalianterribleterribileCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
TERRIBILEM‘frightening (TERRĒRE 'to frighten')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A learned word everywhere, so it looks the same in all four. Watch French: 'pas terrible' is a mild 'not great', far from 'not terrible'.
English relatives: terror, terrify, deter
Learn it
In a sentence
- esHizo un tiempo terrible.
- frLe temps était terrible.
- itIl tempo era terribile.
- ptO tempo estava terrível.
- roVremea a fost teribilă.
- caVa fer un temps terrible.
- enThe weather was terrible.
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