"vaccine" in seven languages
Meaningvaccine
Spanish
vacuna
/baˈkuna/
fem.learned
Shaped on vaca 'cow'.
French
vaccin
/vaksɛ̃/
masc.learned
Italian
vaccino
/vatˈtʃino/
masc.learned
Portuguese
vacina
/vaˈsinɐ/
fem.learned
Romanian
vaccin
/vakˈtʃin/
neut.borrowed · French vaccin
Catalan
vacuna
/bəˈkunə/
fem.learned
vaccí (m) is also accepted.
English
vaccine
/vækˈsin/
from Latin/French · French vaccin
English → ItalianvaccinevaccinoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
VACCĪNUM‘of cows (VACCA 'cow')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
From VACCA 'cow': Jenner's first vaccine (1796) used cowpox. Spanish says its v as b and made the word feminine (la vacuna); French and Italian keep it masculine.
English relatives: vaccine, vaccinate
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¿Te has puesto la vacuna de la gripe?
- frTu as fait le vaccin contre la grippe ?
- itHai fatto il vaccino antinfluenzale?
- ptVocê já tomou a vacina da gripe?
- roȚi-ai făcut vaccinul antigripal?
- caT'has posat la vacuna de la grip?
- enHave you had the flu vaccine?