"unknown" in seven languages
Meaningunknown
Spanish
desconocido
/deskonoˈθido/
inherited
Also a noun: un desconocido, a stranger.
French
inconnu
/ɛ̃kɔny/
inherited
Also a noun: un inconnu, a stranger.
Italian
sconosciuto
/skonoʃˈʃuto/
inherited
Also a noun: uno sconosciuto, a stranger.
Portuguese
desconhecido
/deskoɲeˈsidu/
inherited
Romanian
necunoscut
/nekunosˈkut/
inherited
Catalan
desconegut
/dəskunəˈɡut/
inherited
English
unknown
/ʌnˈnoʊn/
Indo-European kin · PIE *ǵneh₃- 'to know'
Know and COGNŌSCERE share an Indo-European root.
English → ItalianunknownsconosciutoDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: incognito, recognize, cognition.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
COGNŌSCERE‘to get to know’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
One verb, three negative prefixes: Spanish des-, French in-, Italian s-. Each is the past participle of the sisters' 'to know': conocido, connu, conosciuto.
English relatives: incognito, recognize, cognition
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLa causa sigue siendo desconocida.
- frLa cause est encore inconnue.
- itLa causa è ancora sconosciuta.
- ptA causa ainda é desconhecida.
- roCauza este încă necunoscută.
- caLa causa encara és desconeguda.
- enThe cause is still unknown.
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