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"to count" in seven languages

Meaningto count

Spanish

contar

/konˈtaɾ/

inherited

Also 'to tell': contar un cuento.

French

compter

/kɔ̃te/

inherited

The silent p is a scribe's nod to Latin; the 'tell' sense went to conter, raconter.

Italian

contare

/konˈtare/

inherited

'To tell' is raccontare.

Portuguese

contar

/kõˈtah/

inherited

Romanian

număra

/numəˈra/

other source · Latin NUMERĀRE 'to count'

Catalan

comptar

/kumˈta/

inherited

English

count

/kaʊnt/

from Latin/French · Old French conter

English → Italianto countcontareCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

COMPUTĀRE‘to reckon, to sum up’

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

The story

COMPUTĀRE wore down to contar, conter, contare — the same word that, borrowed straight from Latin, gave English compute. Counting and recounting a story were one verb.

English relatives: compute, computer, account, recount

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

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In a sentence

  • esCuenta hasta diez.
  • frCompte jusqu'à dix.
  • itConta fino a dieci.
  • ptConte até dez.
  • roNumără până la zece.
  • caCompta fins a deu.
  • enCount to ten.

More words from the same Latin

More in Numbers

All Numbers words