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"to wear" in seven languages

Meaningto wear

Spanish

llevar

/ʝeˈbaɾ/

other source · Latin LEVĀRE 'to lift'

Also 'to carry' and 'to take'.

French

porter

/pɔʁte/

inherited

Also 'to carry'.

Italian

portare

/porˈtare/

inherited

Also 'to carry, bring'.

Portuguese

usar

/uˈzah/

other source · Vulgar Latin *ŪSĀRE 'to use'

Romanian

purta

/purˈta/

inherited

Catalan

portar

/purˈta/

inherited

English

wear

/wɛɹ/

native English · Old English werian

Native 'wear' is a distant cognate of Latin VESTIS (vest, vestment): both from PIE *wes-.

English → Italianto wearportareNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: porter, portable, report, transport.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • llevar (Catalan) means “to remove, take off; (llevar-se) to get up” · llevar (Spanish) means “to carry, take; to wear”

    Both from Latin LEVĀRE 'to lift'. Spanish lifts and carries; Catalan lifts away (lleva't la jaqueta 'take your jacket off') or lifts itself, like French se lever. Catalan carries with portar.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

PORTĀRE‘to carry’

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

The story

You 'carry' your clothes in all three: French and Italian with PORTĀRE, Spanish with LEVĀRE 'to lift' (llevar also means 'to take').

English relatives: porter, portable, report, transport

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esSiempre lleva gafas.
  • frElle porte toujours des lunettes.
  • itPorta sempre gli occhiali.
  • ptEla sempre usa óculos.
  • roPoartă mereu ochelari.
  • caSempre porta ulleres.
  • enShe always wears glasses.

The Latin family

PORT-· carry

PORTĀRE is the ordinary 'carry' of French (porter) and Italian (portare); Spanish prefers llevar (LEVĀRE 'to lift') and keeps portar for 'to bear' and portarse 'to behave'. Its prefixed forms travelled widely as learned words — and one of them, via Old French, became English sport. Romanian purta and Catalan portar are everyday 'carry' verbs; Portuguese, like Spanish, carries with levar.

  • PORTĀREto carry

    esportarfrporteritportareptportarropurtacaportar

  • IMPORTĀREto carry in

    esimportarfrimporteritimportareptimportarroimportacaimportarenimport

  • SUPPORTĀREto carry up, bear

    essoportarfrsupporteritsopportareptsuportarrosuportacasuportarensupport

  • TRANSPORTĀREto carry across

    estransportarfrtransporterittrasportarepttransportarrotransportacatransportarentransport

  • DĒPORTĀREto carry away

    esdeportefrdéporteritdiportoptesporterosportcaesport

Explore all Latin families

More words from the same Latin

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