"weird, strange" in seven languages
Meaningweird, strange
Spanish
/ˈraɾo/
other source · Latin RĀRUM 'scattered, rare'
Extraño, the cognate of strano, is more formal.
French
/bizaʁ/
other source · Italian bizzarro 'irascible'
Étrange, the cognate of strano, is more literary.
Italian
/ˈstrano/
inherited
Portuguese
/isˈtɾɐ̃ɲu/
inherited
Romanian
/tʃuˈdat/
other source · probably from ciudă, of Slavic origin (cf. čudo 'wonder')
Catalan
/əsˈtraɲ/
inherited
English
/wɪɹd/
native English · Old English wyrd 'fate'
The Latin ancestor
EXTRĀNEUM‘external, foreign’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Each sister reaches for a different everyday word: Spanish 'rare', French bizarre (borrowed from Italian, where bizzarro meant 'hot-tempered'), Italian strano, 'from outside', like English strange. Weird itself once meant 'fate'.
English relatives: strange, stranger
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¡Qué sueño más raro!
- frQuel rêve bizarre !
- itChe sogno strano!
- ptQue sonho estranho!
- roCe vis ciudat!
- caQuin somni més estrany!
- enWhat a weird dream!
More words from the same Latin
More in Describing words
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- firm, steadyfirmefermefermofirmefermferm
- negativenegativonégatifnegativonegativonegativnegatiu
- aware (of)conscienteconscientconsapevoleconscienteconștientconscient