"weak" in seven languages
Meaningweak
Spanish
débil
/ˈdebil/
learned
French
faible
/fɛbl/
other source · Latin FLĒBILEM 'lamentable', with the first l lost (fl…l → f…l)
Italian
debole
/ˈdebole/
inherited
Portuguese
fraco
/ˈfɾaku/
other source · Latin FLACCUM 'flabby, drooping'
Romanian
slab
/slab/
other source · Slavic slabŭ 'weak'
Also 'thin'.
Catalan
feble
/ˈfeblə/
other source · Latin FLĒBILEM 'lamentable', as French faible
English
weak
/wik/
native English · Old Norse veikr
English → ItalianweakdeboleNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: debility, debilitate (DĒBILEM); feeble (via Old French feble, from FLĒBILEM).What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
DĒBILEM‘feeble, disabled’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French 'weak' was once 'pitiable' (FLĒBILIS, from FLĒRE 'to weep'); English feeble is the same word via Old French. Spanish and Italian took DĒBILIS.
English relatives: debility, debilitate (DĒBILEM); feeble (via Old French feble, from FLĒBILEM)
Learn it
In a sentence
- esMe siento un poco débil.
- frJe me sens un peu faible.
- itMi sento un po' debole.
- ptEstou me sentindo um pouco fraco.
- roMă simt puțin slăbit.
- caEm sento una mica feble.
- enI feel a bit weak.