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446 fuori out, outside. From Latin foris (“outside”). Cognate with foreign, Spanish fuera, afuera (“out”, “outside”), French hors (“outside”, as in hors d’oeuvre, literally “outside of work i.e. main course”). Not to be confused with fiori (“flowers”).

456 gioco game, play. 889 giocare to play. From Latin iocus (“joke”), iocare (“to joke”, “to play”). Cognate with joke, jocular, Spanish juego and French jeu (“game”). In spite of cognation with joke, these words do not mean “joke”, “to joke” (which would be scherzo, scherzare in Italian). Examples, parco giochi (“play park”, “playground”); gioco da tavolo (“board game”, literally “game of table”); giocare a calcio / a carte (“to play soccer / cards”; note preposition a).

458 figlio son, child. From Latin filius (“son”). Cognate with filial (as in filial piety / duty), Spanish hijo (Spanish h- often comes from Latin f-) and French fils (“son”).

459 inserire to insert (cognate), to enter. From Latin inserere (“to insert”). Cognate with Spanish insertar (from the frequentative form of Latin inserere) and French insérer. English insert ends with t, which is from the past participle of Latin inserere.

463 ragione reason (cognate). From Latin rationem, a form of ratio (“reason”). Also cognate with ratio, Spanish razón and French raison. Not to be confused with region (regione in Italian). Example, hai ragione (“you’re right”, literally “you have reason”).

464 prova test, trial; proof. 675 provare to test, to try; to prove; to experience or feel, sentire. From Latin probare (“to test”; “to prove”). Cognate with prove, proof, probe, Spanish probar (“to test”, “to try”; “to prove”), French prouve (“to prove”). Note the meaning of “test”, “try”, which English cognates do not have. Examples, mettere alla prova (“to put to test”, “to try”); provare a fare (“to try to do”; note preposition a); non puoi provarlo (“you can’t prove it”); provare per credere (“seeing is believing”, literally “testing / proving for believing”); provare piacere / dolore (“to feel pleasure / pain”).

465 fornire to provide, to supply, to furnish (cognate). Germanic origin. Also cognate with French fournir (“to provide”). Example, fornire cibo ai poveri / fornire i poveri di cibo (“to provide food for the poor people”).

469 partire to leave, to depart; to start, iniziare, cominciare. From Latin partire (“to divide”). Cognate with Spanish partir (“to leave”; “to divide”) and French partir (“to leave”). Dividing means one part leaves, and leaving is starting a new journey, hence the sense of “to start”. Note this word in Italian (as in French, unlike in Spanish) does not mean “to divide”. Example, partire da / per Parigi (“to leave Paris / for Paris”; in the sense of “to leave”, partire is followed by da).

470 avvenire future; to happen, to occur, succedere, accadere. From Latin advenire (“to arrive”). Cognate with advent, adventure, Spanish aventura (“adventure”), French avenir (“future”). The word can be analyzed as a- (“to) + venire (“to come”). What’s coming is the future. What comes to you is what happens.

473 fa ago; conjugated form of fare. This word in the sense of “ago” is from fare (“to do”). It’s not clear how it acquired the sense “ago”, but it may have the same logic as in grammatization of English did (past tense of do) which is the source of the past tense verb suffix -ed. Example, cinque minuti fa (“five minutes ago”).

475 comprendere to understand, to comprehend (cognate); to include, to comprise, includere. From Latin comprendere, from con- + prehendere (“to grasp”; think of prehensile as said of a monkey’s tail, which can grasp a tree branch). Note the second meaning. The basic meaning is “to grasp”. Including something is likened to grasping it.

479 voto vote, voting; (exam) grade, score, mark. Note the second meaning. Example, ho preso un bel voto in inglese (“I got a good grade in English”).

486 aspetto aspect, look, appearance; I wait; waiting. This word is easy but note it occurs more frequently as the first-person singular present form of aspecttare (“to wait”), as in ti aspetto (“I wait for you”). In the sense of “waiting”, it’s almost only in the phrase sala d’aspetto (“waiting room”, sala di attesa).

502 capo head, chief (cognate), boss, leader. From Latin capus, caput (“head”). Cognate with capital and possibly cap, Spanish cabo (“end”, “butt”), French chef. Note testa refers to the head of a human or animal while capo is used in its figurative sense. Example, redattore capo (“editor-in-chief”).