from pp. 148-149
traducir to translate, trasladar. traducción translation. traductor translator. Tra- is trans- ("across"), and -ducir is cognate with the root of introduce and probably with English word tow ("to pull"). This word is cognate with a rare English word traduce ("to speak badly of somebody"). Alternatively, use a mnemonic with partial etymology built in, such as "introduce a foreign language book by translating it". See also trasladar.
compartir to share. Literally, the word means "with a part" made into a verb. Think of "Everyone has a part".
barato cheap. Cognate with barter ("to exchange goods without money"). If no money is involved, the goods exchanged are probably not expensive.
mensual monthly (adj.). Cognate with menstrual.
goma rubber; gum (viscous secretion from trees etc.) (cognate); rubber band; chewing gum.
hembra female (cognate). Change h- to f- and pronounce b weakly to see the cognation. (Revised ed.: Technically this word can refer to an animal or a human, but mujer is much more respectful when referring to a woman. If you see the checkboxes for sex or gender in a form with just single letters H and M, assume hombre and mujer, respectively, not hembra and macho.) Note that there's no Spanish antonym spelled similarly to male in English; instead, macho, varón, or hombre can be considered one in Spanish.
cabecera headboard (of a bed); bedhead; head (of a company). From cabeza ("head"). See also cabeza.
anillo ring. Cognate with annular, anus, but not with annual. Suffix -illo is diminutive.
ganadería cattle raising, animal husbandry. From ganado ("cattle", "what is ganar-ed or acquired or captured") + -ería ("store or business"). See also ganar.
lealtad loyalty (cognate). leal loyal (cognate). From Latin legalis ("legal"). The intervocalic g between two vowels was dropped (as in Latin integer to Spanish entero, litigare to lidiar, regale to real). The English, in fact French, -oy- is from Latin -e-, a common change that happened in Old French (e.g. habere to avoir). The original meaning of the word is "(said of a subject in the feudal system) faithful in carrying out legal obligations". Note this word has nothing to do with leotard.
obedecer to obey (cognate). If the consonant d blocks your mental association, think of obedient, which is also a cognate.
bala bullet. Cognate with ball. Historically, bullets were round balls. Note that generally ball is bola in Spanish and they're not cognates.
querella lawsuit, complaint; quarrel (cognate). Note this word has nothing to do with querer ("to want") or any of its conjugated forms.
creído arrogant, conceited; (too) confident; past participle of creer ("to believe"). This word looks easy but is listed because it may be difficult to connect the past participle of creer with the sense of "arrogant". Presumably, a person that believes himself too much becomes arrogant or conceited.
relleno stuffed (adj.); padding, filling (n.). rellenar to refill (cognate); to fill (a form); to pad, to stuff. See also llenar ("to fill").
pío pious (cognate).
reivindicación claim, demand (n.). reivindicar to claim (that something should be returned); to vindicate. The rei- part is from Latin res ("thing, matter, property or goods", cognate with English real as in real estate), and -vindicación or -vindicar is cognate with vindicate.
pretender to intend, to want, to aim; to woo, to court. Cognate with pretend. Note that nowadays English pretend is largely limited to the sense of "to feign" or "to make oneself appear to do". Consider them to be false friends. To remember this Spanish word, think of holding (-tender) something in front (pre-), such as a flower of rose, as in courting, and extend the meaning to a more general "would like to" or "to want".
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