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"to spend (money)" in seven languages

Meaningto spend (money)

Spanish

gastar

/gasˈtaɾ/

other source · Latin VASTĀRE 'to lay waste', with g- from a Germanic cognate

Spending time is pasar: pasé el verano en Roma.

French

dépenser

/depɑ̃se/

other source · Latin DISPENSĀRE 'to weigh out, distribute'

Spending time is passer.

Italian

spendere

/ˈspɛndere/

inherited

Spending time is passare.

Portuguese

gastar

/ɡasˈtah/

other source · Latin VASTĀRE 'to lay waste', with g- from a Germanic cognate

Romanian

cheltui

/keltuˈi/

other source · Hungarian költeni 'to spend'

Catalan

gastar

/ɡəsˈta/

other source · Latin VASTĀRE 'to lay waste', with g- from a Germanic cognate

English

spend

/spɛnd/

from Latin/French · Old English -spendan, an early borrowing of Latin EXPENDERE (or DISPENDERE)

English → Italianto spend (money)spendereCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

EXPENDERE‘to weigh out, to pay out (EX + PENDERE 'to weigh')’

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

The story

Romans paid by weighing out metal, so 'to weigh out' became 'to spend'. Italian kept EXPENDERE, French a sister verb, and Spanish a verb meaning 'to waste'.

English relatives: expend, expense, expensive, dispense

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In a sentence

  • esGasto demasiado dinero en libros.
  • frJe dépense trop d'argent en livres.
  • itSpendo troppi soldi in libri.
  • ptGasto dinheiro demais com livros.
  • roCheltuiesc prea mulți bani pe cărți.
  • caGasto massa diners en llibres.
  • enI spend too much money on books.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words