"train" in seven languages
Meaningtrain
Spanish
/tɾen/
masc.borrowed · French or English train (19th c.)
French
/tʁɛ̃/
masc.inherited
From traîner 'to drag': a train is a line of things dragged along.
Italian
/ˈtrɛno/
masc.borrowed · French train / English train
Portuguese
/tɾẽj/
masc.borrowed · French or English train (19th c.)
In Portugal a train is o comboio.
Romanian
/tren/
neut.borrowed · French train
plural: trenuri
Catalan
/tɾɛn/
masc.borrowed · French or English train (19th c.)
English
/tɹeɪn/
from Latin/French · Old French train
The Latin ancestor
*TRAGĪNĀRE‘to drag (from TRAHERE)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Long before railways, a train was a trailing line — of servants, of a wedding dress. The railway sense spread from French and English to the whole of Europe.
English relatives: train, tractor, attract, distract (TRAHERE)
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl tren sale a las diez.
- frLe train part à dix heures.
- itIl treno parte alle dieci.
- ptO trem sai às dez.
- roTrenul pleacă la zece.
- caEl tren surt a les deu.
- enThe train leaves at ten.