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"to push" in seven languages

Meaningto push

Spanish

empujar

/empuˈxaɾ/

other source · Latin IMPULSĀRE 'to push on' (IN- + PULSĀRE)

Doors say Empujar or Empuje.

French

pousser

/puse/

inherited

Doors say Poussez.

Italian

spingere

/ˈspindʒere/

other source · origin debated

Doors say Spingere.

Portuguese

empurrar

/ĩpuˈhah/

other source · of uncertain origin

Doors say Empurre.

Romanian

împinge

/ɨmˈpindʒe/

other source · Latin IMPINGERE 'to thrust against'

Doors say Împingeți.

Catalan

empènyer

/əmˈpɛɲə/

other source · Latin IMPINGERE 'to thrust against'

Doors say Empenyeu.

English

push

/pʊʃ/

from Latin/French · Old French pousser

English → Italianto pushspingereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: pulse, impulse, repulsive, compulsion.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • puxar (Portuguese) means “to pull” · push (English) means “to push”

    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 Latin ancestor

PULSĀRE‘to beat, push repeatedly’

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

The story

French turned the l of PULSĀRE into a vowel (pousser), and English borrowed the result as push. Spanish kept a prefixed form of the same verb (empujar); Italian spingere comes from elsewhere.

English relatives: pulse, impulse, repulsive, compulsion

Sound laws at work

L before a consonant becomes u

Learn it

Practice the Core verbs deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esEmpuja fuerte la puerta.
  • frPousse fort la porte.
  • itSpingi forte la porta.
  • ptEmpurra a porta com força.
  • roÎmpinge ușa cu putere.
  • caEmpeny fort la porta.
  • enPush the door hard.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words