List of orthographically identical words in English and Spanish

If you put a word from the list below into this Venn diagram, it would go into either the light yellow or the light orange area.

The following is a list of words that occur in both Modern English and Modern Spanish, but which are pronounced differently, and may have different meanings in each language.

A language's orthography describes the rules for writing the language: spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word dividers, etc. This list of orthographically identical words includes only words that are written precisely the same in both languages. It excludes words that have different diacritics (e.g., invasion/invasión, pâté/paté) or different capitalization.

The words below are categorised based on their relationship: cognates, false friends, and modern loanwords. Cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. False friends are words in two languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning. Loanwords are words that are adopted from one language into another.

Many of the words in the list are Latin cognates. Because Spanish is a Romance language (which means it evolved from Latin), many of its words are either inherited from Latin or derive from Latin words. Although English is a Germanic language, it, too, incorporates thousands of Latinate words that are related to words in Spanish.[1] Yet even with so many Latin cognates, only a small minority are written precisely the same in both languages.

None of the words in the list are pronounced the same in both languages. Not even the word no is pronounced the same! If any of the words in this list were pronounced the same in English in Spanish, they would go into the "Identical Words" section at the center of the diagram on this page. For two words to be identical, not only must they be written the same, they must also have the same definition and the same pronunciation. Because words are pronounced differently in Spanish and English, it is probable that there are no such words shared by the two languages.

Cognates

The cognates in the table below share meanings in English and Spanish, but have different pronunciation.

Some words entered Middle English and Early Modern Spanish indirectly and at different times. For example, a Latinate word might enter English by way of Old French, but enter Spanish directly from Latin. Such differences can introduce changes in spelling and meaning.

Although most of the cognates have at least one meaning shared by English and Spanish, they can have other meanings that are not shared. A word might also be used in different contexts in each language.

Greek cognates

All of the following Greek cognates are nouns. In addition to being a noun, gas is also a transitive and intransitive verb in English.

  1. ^ Via Latin

Latin cognates

The following words share common meanings in English and Spanish unless marked with a ‡ symbol.

  1. ^ In Spanish, solely as a verb, the formal singular imperative (et al.) of votar: The noun is voto.

Words with an -a ending

Words with an -able ending

Words with an -al ending

All of the following words are adjectives and/or nouns.

Words with an -ar ending

Words with an -el ending

  1. ^ In Spanish, cartel is alternately spelled cártel.

Words with an -er ending

Words with an -ible ending

Words with an -o ending

Words with an -or ending

All of the following words are adjectives and/or nouns.

  1. ^ In English, also functions as an intransitive verb
  2. ^ In English, also functions as either an intransitive or transitive verb

Arabic cognates

  1. alcohol
  2. alfalfa
  3. hennaa
  4. soda‡

  1. ^ In Spanish, the preferred word is alheña.

Proto-Indo-European cognates

  1. no

False friends

Further information: False friend

Although the words in this section are written identically in English and Spanish, they have different meanings in each language. Some of them are etymologically related, while others are not.

  1. ^ In Spanish, gripe ("the flu") is a loanword from French (grippe). The English word grip also comes from grippe. All of these words have the same Proto-Indo-European origin as a verb that means "to grab" or "to grasp".

Modern loanwords

The table below lists English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English loanwards, as well as loanwards from other modern languages that share the same orthography in both English and Spanish. In some cases, the common orthography resulted because a word entered the Spanish lexicon via English. These loanwords may retain spelling conventions that are foreign to Spanish (as in whisky). In Spanish, only loanwords use the letters k and w.

English-to-Spanish loanwords

All of the following loanwords are either nouns or gerunds. Words ending in -ing are gerunds in English and nouns in Spanish.

  1. ^ Applies only to the music genre sense of the word.

Spanish-to-English loanwords

Although the meanings of the following loanwords overlap, most of them have different senses and/or shades of meaning in Spanish and English. Generally, loanwords have more diverse and nuanced meanings in the originating language than they do in the adopting language.

  1. ^ In Spanish, mosca means "fly"; mosquito literally means "little fly".

Loanwords from other languages

The following loanwords occur in both Modern English and Modern Spanish, but originated in another language. Several of the words entered the Spanish language via English.

Word Original language
anaconda(s) Sinhalese
adagio(s) Italian
aria(s) Italian
autoclave(s) French
ballet(s) French
banana(s) Wolof or possibly another of the Niger–Congo languages (entered English via Spanish or Portuguese)[2]
borage Old French
canapé French
crepe(s) French
fez Turkish
guano(s) Quechua (entered English via Spanish)[3]
iguana(s) Spanish corruption of the Taíno word iwana (entered Spanish via English)[4]
imam Arabic
judo Japanese (entered Spanish via English)
karaoke Japanese (entered Spanish via English)
kimono(s) Japanese (entered Spanish via English)
kiwi(s) Māori (entered Spanish via English)
llama(s) Quechua (entered English via Spanish)[5]
mafia(s) Italian
mango(s) multi-generational corruption from Tamil; entered English via Portuguese manga
mecha(s) from Japanase メカ (meka), an abbreviation of the English adjective mechanical
pisco(s) Quechua (entered English via Spanish)
pizza(s) Italian
poncho(s) possibly from Mapuche[6][7] or Quechua (entered English via Spanish)
postal French
puma(s) Quechua (entered English via Spanish)[8]
ravioli Italian
safari(s) Swahili
sauna(s) Finnish
sushi Japanese (entered Spanish via English)
tapioca Old Tupi
taxi(s) French (abbreviation of a corruption of taximètre)
vodka Russian (entered Spanish via English)
zinc German

See also

Spanish-specific

Notes

  1. ↑ A major reason for the number of Latinate words in English is the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century. The Norman language is a Romance language. Before long, many people in England were speaking a language with elements of Norman and Old English. This language is called Anglo-Norman, and it eventually evolved into Modern English. Meanwhile, the Norman language evolved into the French language.
  2. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "banana". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  3. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "guano". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  4. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "iguana". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  5. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "llama". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  6. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "poncho". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  7. ↑ Skeat, Walter William (1901). Notes on English Etymology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 224. OCLC 312336. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  8. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "puma". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.

References

External links

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