"to guess" in seven languages
Meaningto guess
Spanish
/adibiˈnaɾ/
inherited
With the prefix a-; an adivino is a fortune-teller.
French
/dəvine/
inherited
From spoken Latin *DĒVĪNĀRE, DĪVĪNĀRE with its prefix swapped.
Italian
/indoviˈnare/
inherited
With the prefix in-; an indovino is a fortune-teller.
Portuguese
/adʒiviˈɲah/
inherited
Romanian
/ɡiˈtʃi/
other source · of uncertain origin
Catalan
/əndəbiˈna/
inherited
English
/ɡɛs/
native English · Middle English gessen, probably from Scandinavian or Low German
The Latin ancestor
DĪVĪNĀRE‘to foresee, prophesy’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
In all three, to guess is to play the soothsayer. Each one stuck a different prefix on DĪVĪNĀRE (a-, de-, in-), so it's the -vin- in the middle that matches up.
English relatives: divine, divination
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡Adivina a quién vi ayer!
- frDevine qui j'ai vu hier !
- itIndovina chi ho visto ieri!
- ptAdivinha quem eu vi ontem!
- roGhici pe cine am văzut ieri!
- caEndevina qui vaig veure ahir!
- enGuess who I saw yesterday!
More in Core verbs
- to receiverecibirrecevoirriceverereceberprimirebre
- to sendenviarenvoyermandaremandartrimiteenviar
- to be worthvalervaloirvalerevalermeritavaler
- to provide, to supplyproporcionarfournirfornireforneceroferiproporcionar
- to followseguirsuivreseguireseguirurmaseguir
- to save (to rescue)salvarsauversalvaresalvarsalvasalvar