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"to paint" in seven languages

Meaningto paint

Spanish

pintar

/pinˈtaɾ/

other source · Vulgar Latin *PINCTĀRE, from *PINCTUS (for PICTUS 'painted')

French

peindre

/pɛ̃dʁ/

inherited

Italian

dipingere

/diˈpindʒere/

other source · Latin DĒPINGERE 'to depict' (PINGERE with DĒ-)

For walls, Italians also say pitturare or imbiancare.

Portuguese

pintar

/pĩˈtah/

other source · Vulgar Latin *PINCTĀRE, from *PINCTUS (for PICTUS 'painted')

Romanian

vopsi

/vopˈsi/

other source · Romanian vopsea 'paint', a Slavic loan

Artists picta (rebuilt on Latin PICTOR); walls are usually zugrăvite.

Catalan

pintar

/pinˈta/

other source · Vulgar Latin *PINCTĀRE, from *PINCTUS (for PICTUS 'painted')

English

paint

/peɪnt/

from Latin/French · Old French peint, past participle of peindre

English → Italianto paintdipingereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: picture, depict, pigment, pictorial.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

PINGERE‘to paint’

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

The story

Only French kept plain PINGERE (peindre); Spanish built a new verb on the participle, Italian took the prefixed DĒPINGERE. English paint is the French participle peint.

English relatives: picture, depict, pigment, pictorial

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

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In a sentence

  • esEstamos pintando la cocina de amarillo.
  • frOn peint la cuisine en jaune.
  • itStiamo dipingendo la cucina di giallo.
  • ptEstamos pintando a cozinha de amarelo.
  • roVopsim bucătăria în galben.
  • caEstem pintant la cuina de groc.
  • enWe're painting the kitchen yellow.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words