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"to rub" in seven languages

Meaningto rub

Spanish

frotar

/froˈtaɾ/

other source · French frotter (of uncertain origin)

Fregar, the Spanish heir of FRICĀRE, means to scrub (the dishes, the floor).

French

frotter

/fʁɔte/

other source · of uncertain origin (perhaps spoken Latin *FRICTĀRE)

Italian

sfregare

/sfreˈɡare/

inherited

From *EXFRICĀRE; also strofinare.

Portuguese

esfregar

/isfɾeˈɡah/

inherited

From *EXFRICĀRE, like Italian sfregare.

Romanian

freca

/freˈka/

inherited

Keeps the Latin c: Romanian does not voice it.

Catalan

fregar

/fɾəˈɡa/

inherited

Also to scrub (the dishes, the floor).

English

rub

/ɹʌb/

other source · Middle English rubben, probably Low German

English → Italianto rubsfregareNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: friction.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

FRICĀRE‘to rub’

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

The story

FRICĀRE voiced its c to g in Italian sfregare, Portuguese esfregar and Catalan fregar; Romanian freca kept it. Spanish took frotar from French and kept fregar for the dishes.

English relatives: friction

Sound laws at work

Voiceless stops between vowels soften

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In a sentence

  • esFrótate las manos para calentarlas.
  • frFrotte-toi les mains pour les réchauffer.
  • itSfregati le mani per scaldarle.
  • ptEsfregue as mãos para esquentá-las.
  • roFreacă-ți mâinile ca să le încălzești.
  • caFrega't les mans per escalfar-les.
  • enRub your hands to warm them up.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words