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"to eat" in seven languages

Meaningto eat

Spanish

comer

/koˈmeɾ/

inherited

From COMEDERE 'to eat up' — Latin with a prefix.

French

manger

/mɑ̃ʒe/

other source · Latin MANDŪCĀRE 'to chew, munch'

Italian

mangiare

/manˈdʒare/

other source · Old French manjier, from Latin MANDŪCĀRE

Portuguese

comer

/koˈmeh/

inherited

Romanian

mânca

/mɨnˈka/

other source · Latin MANDŪCĀRE 'to chew, munch'

Romanian inherited MANDŪCĀRE directly, while Italian got it through French.

Catalan

menjar

/mənˈʒa/

other source · Latin MANDŪCĀRE 'to chew, munch', probably via Occitan or Old French

English

eat

/it/

Indo-European kin · PIE *h₁ed-

'Eat' is a distant cognate of the EDERE inside COM-EDERE.

English → Italianto eatmangiareNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: comestible (from COMEDERE); mandible (from MANDERE, 'to chew').What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

COMEDERE‘to eat up’

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

The story

Classical EDERE 'to eat' was too short to survive. Spanish kept the prefixed COMEDERE; French and Italian chose a slangy 'to munch' — Italian probably by way of Old French.

English relatives: comestible (from COMEDERE); mandible (from MANDERE, 'to chew')

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In a sentence

  • esComemos a las nueve.
  • frOn mange à neuf heures.
  • itMangiamo alle nove.
  • ptA gente come às nove.
  • roMâncăm la nouă.
  • caMengem a les nou.
  • enWe eat at nine.

More in Core verbs

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