List of English–Spanish interlingual homographs

This is a list of words that occur in both the English language and the Spanish language, but which have different meanings and/or pronunciations in each language. Such words are called interlingual homographs.[1][2] Homographs are two or more words that have the same written form.

How words in one or more languages can differ in pronunciation, spelling, and meaning (click to enlarge)

This list includes only homographs that are written precisely the same in English and Spanish: They have the same spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word dividers, etc. It excludes proper nouns and words that have different diacritics (e.g., invasion/invasión, pâté/paté).

Relationships between words

The words below are categorised based on their relationship: cognates, false cognates, false friends, and modern loanwords. Cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. False cognates are words in different languages that seem to be cognates because they look similar and may even have similar meanings, but which do not share a common ancestor. False friends do share a common ancestor, but even though they look alike or sound similar, they differ significantly in meaning. Loanwords are words that are adopted from one language into another. Since this article is about homographs, the loanwords listed here are written the same not only in English and Spanish, but also in the language that the word came from.

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.[3] Yet even with so many Latin cognates, only a small minority are written precisely the same in both languages.

Even though the words in this list are written the same in both languages, none of them are pronounced the same—not even the word no.

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.

Arabic cognates

In Spanish, the preferred word is alheña.
False friends

Aymara cognates

alpaca(s)

German cognates

zinc

Greek cognates

All of the following Greek cognates are nouns. In addition, gas and gases are verbs in English.

Japanese cognates

From Japanese メカ (meka), an abbreviation of the English adjective mechanical

Latin cognates

False friends
Originally Greek
In Spanish, vote is a verb: the formal singular imperative (et al.) of votar: The noun is voto.

Words with an -a ending

Originally Greek
False friends

Words with an -able ending

Words with an -al ending

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

False friends

Words with an -ar ending

Words with an -el ending

cartel[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
pastel[lower-alpha 1]

False friends
In Spanish, cartel is alternately spelled cártel.

Words with an -er ending

False friends

Words with an -ible ending

False friends

Words with an -o ending

False friends
Originally Greek

Words with an -or ending

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

In English, also functions as an intransitive verb
In English, also functions as either an intransitive or transitive verb
False friends

Māori cognates

kiwi(s)[lower-alpha 1]

Entered Spanish via English

Nahuatl cognates

Proto-Indo-European cognates

me
no
gripe(s)[lower-alpha 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".

Quechua cognates

guano(s)[lower-alpha 1]
poncho(s)[lower-alpha 2]
pisco(s)[lower-alpha 3]

Entered English via Spanish[4]
Or possibly from the Mapuche language[5][6]
Entered English via Spanish

Spanish corruption of the Taíno word iwana, which entered Spanish via English.[7]

Tamil cognates

mango(s)[lower-alpha 1]

Mango is a multi-generational corruption from Tamil that entered English via the Portuguese word manga.

Tupi cognates

Turkish cognates

fez

Wolof cognates

banana(s)[lower-alpha 1]

False cognates

Although the words in this section are written identically in English and Spanish, they have different meanings in each language, and they are not cognates.

Possibly from one of the Niger–Congo languages other than Wolof; entered English via either Spanish or Portuguese[8]

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.

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.

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.

From Finnish

sauna(s)

From French

In French, taxi is an abbreviation of taximètre (taximeter).

From Italian

From Quechua

llama(s)[lower-alpha 1]
puma(s)[lower-alpha 2]

Entered English via Spanish[11]
Entered English via Spanish[12]

From Swahili

safari(s)

From Zulu

impala(s)

Notes

Dijkstra, Ton (2007). "Task and Context Effects in Bilingual Lexical Processing § Interlingual Homographs". In Kecskes, Istvan; Albertazzi, Liliana (eds.). Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism. Springer. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-4020-5935-3. OCLC 915958351. Retrieved 2017-06-23 – via Google Books.
Chen, Lillian (2008). "Background § Language-Selective Access" (PDF). Top-down Effects on Multiple Meaning Access Within and Between Languages (Thesis). University of Michigan. p. 25. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
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.
Harper, Douglas. "guano". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
Harper, Douglas. "poncho". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
Skeat, Walter William (1901). Notes on English Etymology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 224. OCLC 312336. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
Harper, Douglas. "iguana". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
Harper, Douglas. "banana". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
Harper, Douglas. "jersey (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
"jersey". etimologias.dechile.net. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
Harper, Douglas. "llama". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
Harper, Douglas. "puma". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-04-05.

References

Berlitz Spanish Pocket Dictionary. Berlitz Corporation. 2007. ISBN 978-981-246-872-7. OCLC 775780246.
The University of Chicago Spanish–English Dictionary (Sixth ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-226-66696-9. OCLC 775780246.

External links

"English Spanish Cognates". esdict.com. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
"Spanish Cognates". SpanishCognates.org. Velazquez Press. Retrieved 15 September 2014.

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[4] In Spanish, the preferred word is alheña.

[5] False friends

[6] From Japanese メカ (meka), an abbreviation of the English adjective mechanical

[ff-7] False friends

[greek-8] Originally Greek

[9] In Spanish, vote is a verb: the formal singular imperative (et al.) of votar: The noun is voto.

[greek-10] Originally Greek

[ff-11] False friends

[ff-12] False friends

[ff-13] False friends

[14] In Spanish, cartel is alternately spelled cártel.

[ff-15] False friends

[ff-16] False friends

[ff-17] False friends

[18] Originally Greek

[intrans-19] In English, also functions as an intransitive verb

[alsoverb-20] In English, also functions as either an intransitive or transitive verb

[ff-21] False friends