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"to fill" in seven languages

Meaningto fill

Spanish

llenar

/ʝeˈnaɾ/

other source · lleno 'full' ← Latin PLĒNUM

French

remplir

/ʁɑ̃pliʁ/

inherited

re- + emplir, the older verb.

Italian

riempire

/rjemˈpire/

inherited

ri- + empire.

Portuguese

encher

/ẽˈʃeh/

inherited

Latin PL became ch in Portuguese: IMPLĒRE → encher, PLĒNUM → cheio.

Romanian

umple

/ˈumple/

inherited

Catalan

omplir

/umˈpli/

inherited

English

fill

/fɪl/

Indo-European kin · PIE *pelh₁- 'to fill'

Native fill and full are distant relatives of Latin PLĒNUS.

English → Italianto fillriempireDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: complete, replete, implement, plenty.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

IMPLĒRE‘to fill up’

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

The story

All three use the Latin root PLĒ- 'fill': French and Italian through IMPLĒRE with re- in front, Spanish through lleno 'full' (PLĒNUM, with the regular pl- → ll-).

English relatives: complete, replete, implement, plenty

Sound laws at work

CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a word

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In a sentence

  • esLlena el vaso de agua.
  • frRemplis le verre d'eau.
  • itRiempi il bicchiere d'acqua.
  • ptEncha o copo de água.
  • roUmple paharul cu apă.
  • caOmple el got d'aigua.
  • enFill the glass with water.

More in Core verbs

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