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"truth" in seven languages

Meaningtruth

Spanish

verdad

/beɾˈdad/

fem.inherited

French

vérité

/veʁite/

fem.learned

Old French had an inherited verté, later replaced by the learned form.

Italian

verità

/veriˈta/

fem.inherited

plural: verità

Portuguese

verdade

/vehˈdadʒi/

fem.inherited

Romanian

adevăr

/adeˈvər/

neut.other source · Latin VĒRUM 'true', in a prepositional phrase (DEX: ad de verum)

Catalan

veritat

/bəɾiˈtat/

fem.learned

Semi-learned: the medial t was not softened to d as in inherited words.

English

truth

/tɹuθ/

native English · Old English trēowþ

English → ItaliantruthveritàNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: verity, verify, verdict.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

VĒRITĀTEM‘truth’

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

The story

Spanish wore VĒRITĀTEM down to two syllables by dropping the unstressed i; French re-borrowed the full Latin shape. ¿Verdad? doubles as Spanish 'right?' at the end of a sentence.

English relatives: verity, verify, verdict

Sound laws at work

-TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esDime la verdad.
  • frDis-moi la vérité.
  • itDimmi la verità.
  • ptMe fala a verdade.
  • roSpune-mi adevărul.
  • caDigues-me la veritat.
  • enTell me the truth.

More in Ideas

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