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"vote" in seven languages

Meaningvote

Spanish

voto

/ˈboto/

masc.learned

French

vote

/vɔt/

masc.borrowed · English vote (itself from Latin VŌTUM)

The inherited French word is vœu 'wish, vow'.

Italian

voto

/ˈvoto/

masc.learned

Also a mark at school: ho preso un bel voto.

Portuguese

voto

/ˈvɔtu/

masc.learned

Romanian

vot

/vot/

neut.learned

Catalan

vot

/bɔt/

masc.learned

English

vote

/voʊt/

from Latin/French · Latin VŌTUM

English → ItalianvotevotoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

VŌTUM‘vow, solemn promise, wish’

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

The story

A Latin VŌTUM was a vow to the gods. The popular descendants kept that sense (French vœu, English vow), while the political vote came back as a learned word — into French by way of English. The plural VŌTA, worn down, is Spanish boda 'wedding'.

English relatives: vow, votive, devote

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In a sentence

  • esCada voto cuenta.
  • frChaque vote compte.
  • itOgni voto conta.
  • ptCada voto conta.
  • roFiecare vot contează.
  • caCada vot compta.
  • enEvery vote counts.

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