"to quit (a job, a place)" in seven languages
Meaningto quit (a job, a place)
Spanish
/deˈxaɾ/
inherited
Also 'to let' and 'to leave behind'; dejar de fumar is 'to quit smoking'.
French
/kite/
other source · Medieval Latin QUIĒTĀRE 'to release, discharge', from QUIĒTUS 'at rest'
Means 'to leave' (a job, a person, a room); to quit a habit is arrêter.
Italian
/laʃˈʃare/
inherited
Quitting a habit is smettere: smettere di fumare.
Portuguese
/dejˈʃah/
inherited
Romanian
/ləˈsa/
inherited
For a job the formal phrase is a-și da demisia 'to hand in one's resignation'.
Catalan
/dəˈʃa/
inherited
English
/kwɪt/
other source · Old French quiter, from Medieval Latin QUIĒTĀRE 'to release, discharge'
Watch out: false friends
quitar (Spanish) means “to remove, take off” · quitter (French) means “to leave (a place, a person)”
Both from Medieval Latin QUIĒTĀRE 'to set free (of a debt)', from QUIĒTUS 'at rest'. French frees itself of a place; Spanish frees something from its place.
The Latin ancestor
LAXĀRE‘to loosen, to let go’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian 'loosen their grip' (LAXĀRE; the d- of Spanish dejar is not fully explained). English quit and French quitter are one word from Medieval Latin 'to be quits', related to quiet.
English relatives: relax, lax, release
Learn it
In a sentence
- esDejó su trabajo el mes pasado.
- frElle a quitté son travail le mois dernier.
- itHa lasciato il lavoro il mese scorso.
- ptEla deixou o emprego no mês passado.
- roȘi-a lăsat slujba luna trecută.
- caVa deixar la feina el mes passat.
- enShe quit her job last month.
More words from the same Latin
More in Core verbs
- to burnquemarbrûlerbruciarequeimarardecremar
- to hideescondercachernascondereesconderascundeamagar
- to respond, to answerresponderrépondrerispondereresponderrăspunderespondre
- to conduct (an orchestra)dirigirdirigerdirigereregerdirijadirigir
- to destroydestruirdétruiredistruggeredestruirdistrugedestruir
- to grabagarrarattraperafferrareagarrarapucaagafar