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"thumb" in seven languages

Meaningthumb

Spanish

pulgar

/pulˈɡaɾ/

masc.inherited

From the adjective POLLICĀREM, '(the finger) of the thumb'; also dedo gordo.

French

pouce

/pus/

masc.inherited

Also an inch, and the word for 'time out!' in a children's game.

Italian

pollice

/ˈpɔllitʃe/

masc.inherited

Also an inch.

Portuguese

polegar

/poleˈɡah/

masc.inherited

From POLLICĀREM, like Spanish pulgar; an inch is a polegada.

Romanian

deget mare

/ˈdedʒet ˈmare/

neut.other source · deget 'finger' (Latin DIGITUM) + mare 'big'

Police, from POLLICEM, is the anatomical word.

Catalan

polze

/ˈpolzə/

masc.inherited

English

thumb

/θʌm/

native English · Old English þūma

English → ItalianthumbpolliceNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

POLLICEM‘thumb (nom. POLLEX)’

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

The story

French pouce vocalized the l and softened the c to s, Italian pollice softened it to tʃ; Spanish pulgar and Portuguese polegar come from the adjective POLLICĀRIS, with c voiced to g. An inch was a thumb's width: pouce, pollice, polegada.

Sound laws at work

L before a consonant becomes uVoiceless stops between vowels softenC before E and I

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esMe di con el martillo en el pulgar.
  • frJe me suis tapé sur le pouce avec le marteau.
  • itMi sono dato il martello sul pollice.
  • ptDei uma martelada no polegar.
  • roM-am lovit cu ciocanul peste degetul mare.
  • caM'he donat un cop de martell al polze.
  • enI hit my thumb with the hammer.

More words from the same Latin

More in The body

All The body words