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"white" in seven languages

Meaningwhite

Spanish

blanco

/ˈblanko/

inherited

French

blanc

/blɑ̃/

inherited

fem.: blanche

Italian

bianco

/ˈbjanko/

inherited

Portuguese

branco

/ˈbɾɐ̃ku/

inherited

Portuguese often turns the l of a cluster into r: branco, like praia ← PLAGIAM.

Romanian

alb

/alb/

other source · Latin ALBUM 'white'

Romanian alone kept the Latin word that the western sisters gave up for the Germanic one.

Catalan

blanc

/blaŋ/

inherited

English

white

/waɪt/

native English · Old English hwīt

Borrowed 'blank' (Old French blanc) is the shared word.

English → ItalianwhitebiancoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: blank, blanket (via French).What English and Italian share

The ancestor

Germanic *blank‘shining, bright’

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

The story

Latin ALBUS lost out to a Germanic word for 'gleaming' — ALBUS survives in alba / aube / alba 'dawn' and English album. Italian turns bl- into bi-, as it turns pl- into pi-.

English relatives: blank, blanket (via French)

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esQuiero una copa de vino blanco.
  • frJe voudrais un verre de vin blanc.
  • itVorrei un bicchiere di vino bianco.
  • ptEu queria uma taça de vinho branco.
  • roAș vrea un pahar de vin alb.
  • caVoldria una copa de vi blanc.
  • enI'd like a glass of white wine.

More in Colors

All Colors words