"to pull" in seven languages

Meaningto pull

Spanish

tirar (de)

/tiˈɾaɾ/

inherited

Also 'to throw' and 'to throw away': tirar la basura. Doors say Tirar or Tire.

French

tirer

/tiʁe/

inherited

Also 'to shoot' (a gun). Doors say Tirez.

Italian

tirare

/tiˈrare/

inherited

Doors say Tirare.

Portuguese

puxar

/puˈʃah/

other source · Latin PULSĀRE 'to push, beat'

A meaning flip: puxar comes from PULSĀRE 'to push', the verb behind French pousser. Doors say Puxe.

Romanian

trage

/ˈtradʒe/

other source · Latin TRAHERE 'to draw, drag'

Catalan

estirar

/əstiˈɾa/

inherited

Es- + tirar; Catalan tirar alone usually means 'to throw'. Doors say Estireu.

English

pull

/pʊl/

native English · Old English pullian

English → Italianto pulltirareNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

push (English) means “to push” · puxar (Portuguese) means “to pull”
The cruellest trap on a door: both come from Latin PULSĀRE 'to push, beat' (English via Old French pousser). Portuguese turned the sense round to 'pull'; PUXE on a Brazilian door means pull.

All false friends

The ancestor

Romance tirare (origin unknown)‘to pull, draw’

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

The story

All three share a verb whose source nobody has settled. It is a busy word: Spanish tirar also throws things away, French tirer also fires a gun.

Learn it

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In a sentence

es¡Tira de la cuerda!
frTire sur la corde !
itTira la corda!
ptPuxa a corda!
roTrage de frânghie!
caEstira la corda!
enPull the rope!

More in Core verbs

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