"to define" in seven languages
Meaningto define
Spanish
definir
/defiˈniɾ/
learned
French
définir
/definiʁ/
learned
Italian
definire
/defiˈnire/
learned
Portuguese
definir
/defiˈnih/
learned
Romanian
defini
/defiˈni/
learned
Catalan
definir
/dəfiˈni/
learned
English
define
/dɪˈfaɪn/
from Latin/French · Latin DĒFĪNĪRE, via Old French
English → Italianto definedefinireCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
DĒFĪNĪRE‘to set bounds (FĪNIS 'end, border')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
To define is to draw the border round a meaning. Learned in all four languages; the popular child of FĪNIS is the word for end: fin, fin, fine.
English relatives: definition, definite, finish, finite
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¿Cómo definirías la felicidad?
- frComment définiriez-vous le bonheur ?
- itCome definiresti la felicità?
- ptComo você definiria a felicidade?
- roCum ai defini fericirea?
- caCom definiries la felicitat?
- enHow would you define happiness?
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