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"to reflect (light, an image)" in seven languages

Meaningto reflect (light, an image)

Spanish

reflejar

/refleˈxaɾ/

learned

Built on reflejo, a semi-learned form of REFLEXUM, the verb's participle.

French

refléter

/ʁəflete/

borrowed · French reflet, from Italian riflesso

Italian

riflettere

/riˈflɛttere/

learned

Also means 'to think something over'.

Portuguese

refletir

/hefleˈtʃih/

learned

Romanian

reflecta

/reflekˈta/

learned

Catalan

reflectir

/rəfləkˈti/

learned

English

reflect

/ɹɪˈflɛkt/

from Latin/French · Old French reflecter, from Latin

English → Italianto reflect (light, an image)riflettereCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

REFLECTERE‘to bend back’

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

The story

Each sister reached the word by a different door: Italian straight from REFLECTERE, Spanish through the participle REFLEXUM (reflejo), French through the noun reflet, borrowed from Italian riflesso. For 'to think', Spanish and French say reflexionar, réfléchir.

English relatives: reflection, reflex, flexible

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In a sentence

  • esEl lago refleja las montañas.
  • frLe lac reflète les montagnes.
  • itIl lago riflette le montagne.
  • ptO lago reflete as montanhas.
  • roLacul reflectă munții.
  • caEl llac reflecteix les muntanyes.
  • enThe lake reflects the mountains.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words