Doublets: one source, two routes
48 sets of English words that grew from the same source word but reached English by different paths, drawn as channels from the spring to each word.
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hospital · hostel · hotel
Medieval Latin hospitāle ‘guesthouse, shelter’
- Old French hospitalhospital
- Old French hostelhostel
- French hôtel, from Old French hostelhotel
All three began as places that take in guests. Hostel fell out of use for over a century until Walter Scott revived it in 1808.
frail · fragile
Latin fragilis ‘easily broken (from frangere ‘to break’)’
- Old French frailefrail
- French fragile, or straight from Latinfragile
Frail was worn down in Old French speech; fragile keeps a spelling much closer to the Latin.
ward · guard
Proto-Germanic *wardāną ‘to guard, watch’
- Old English weard (inherited)ward
- Frankish, then Old French guarderguard
English kept the w-; Old French turned the Germanic w- into gu-. The same split shows in warranty and guarantee, and warden and guardian.
warranty · guarantee
Frankish *warjan ‘to ward off’
- Anglo-Norman warantiewarranty
- Old French guarantieguarantee
The Norman French used in England kept the w-, while central French had gu-; English borrowed both.
warden · guardian
Old French guarder, warder ‘to guard (from Frankish)’
- Anglo-Norman wardeinwarden
- Old French guardeinguardian
Another w-/gu- pair: the Norman form gave warden, the central French form gave guardian.
chief · chef
Latin caput ‘head’
- Old French chief ‘head, leader’chief
- modern French chef, from chef de cuisinechef
The same French word, borrowed twice: first for a leader, much later for the head of a kitchen.
cattle · chattel · capital
Medieval Latin capitāle ‘property (from capitālis ‘of the head’)’
- Anglo-Norman catel ‘property’cattle
- Old French chatelchattel
- Latin capitālis, partly through Frenchcapital
‘Personal property’, ‘cows’ and ‘money for trade’ all grew from one word for property. Wiktionary links the money sense to medieval trading in head of cattle.
poison · potion
Latin pōtiō ‘a drinking, a drink’
- Old French poisonpoison
- Old French pocionpotion
Both go back to a Latin word for a drink; potable is a more distant relative.
sure · secure
Latin sēcūrus ‘free from care (sē- ‘without’ + cūra ‘care’)’
- Old French seursure
- straight from Latinsecure
Sure is the form that passed through French speech; secure was taken straight from Latin.
loyal · legal
Latin lēgālis ‘of the law (from lēx ‘law’)’
- Old French loial, leialloyal
- Latin lēgālislegal
Loyal is the form worn down in French; legal came straight from Latin. Leal, an old and Scots word for loyal, is a third relative.
royal · regal
Latin rēgālis ‘kingly (from rēx ‘king’)’
- Old French roialroyal
- Old French regal, closer to the Latinregal
French speech wore rēgālis down to roial; regal keeps the g.
dainty · dignity
Latin dignitās ‘worthiness’
- Old French deintiédainty
- Old French dignitédignity
Dainty came through everyday French; dignity kept a shape closer to the Latin.
blame · blaspheme
Late Latin blasphēmāre ‘to revile (from Greek βλασφημέω, blasphēméō)’
- Old French blasmerblame
- Old French blasfemerblaspheme
Old French squeezed the long word down to blasmer; blaspheme kept its religious sense and fuller shape.
count · compute
Latin computāre ‘to reckon, sum up’
- Old French contercount
- French computer, from Latin (17th century)compute
Count arrived worn down through French; compute was borrowed again in the 1600s in its Latin shape.
sever · separate
Latin sēparāre ‘to separate’
- Old French sevrersever
- Latin sēparātusseparate
One verb, two shapes: sever through French, separate from the Latin past participle.
spice · species
Latin speciēs ‘kind, sort; later goods, wares’
- Old French espicespice
- straight from Latinspecies
Spices were a ‘kind’ of goods; species kept the scientific sense of ‘kind’.
reason · ration
Latin ratiō ‘reckoning, reason’
- Old French raisunreason
- French rationration
Ratio is a third member of the family, borrowed straight from Latin.
strait · strict
Latin strictus ‘drawn tight (from stringere)’
- Old French estreitstrait
- straight from Latinstrict
A strait is a narrow, tight passage of water; strict is tight in a figurative sense.
jealous · zealous
Medieval Latin zēlōsus ‘full of zeal (from Greek ζῆλος, zêlos ‘zeal, jealousy’)’
- Old French jalousjealous
- Medieval Latin zēlōsuszealous
The Greek word already meant both eager devotion and jealousy; English split the senses between two spellings.
treason · tradition
Latin trāditiō ‘a surrender, a handing over’
- Old French traisontreason
- Old French tradicion, from Latintradition
A tradition is handed down; treason hands your side over to the enemy.
dish · desk · dais · disk · discus
Latin discus ‘disc, quoit, dish (from Greek δίσκος, dískos)’
- Old English disc (an early borrowing)dish
- Medieval Latin desca, from Italian descodesk
- Old French deisdais
- Latin discusdisk
- Latin discus (1650s)discus
One round, flat object became a plate, a table, a raised platform, a disc and a throwing weight.
Wiktionary: dish Wiktionary: desk Wiktionary: dais Wiktionary: disk Wiktionary: discus
inch · ounce
Latin ūncia ‘a twelfth part’
- Old English ynce (an early borrowing)inch
- Old French unceounce
A twelfth of a foot and a twelfth of a (Roman) pound: one word, borrowed at two different times.
shirt · skirt
Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ ‘skirt, apron’
- Old English scyrte (inherited)shirt
- Old Norse skyrta (borrowed)skirt
English softened sk- to sh-; Old Norse kept sk-, and English later borrowed the Norse form too.
grammar · glamour
Old French gramaire ‘classical learning (from Latin grammatica)’
- Middle English grameregrammar
- Scots alteration of gramereglamour
Learning was linked with magic, and the Scots form glamour first meant an enchantment before it meant alluring charm.
corpse · corps · corpus
Latin corpus ‘body’
- Old French cors (the p was put back later)corpse
- French corps d’armée ‘army body’corps
- straight from Latincorpus
A dead body, a body of soldiers and a body of texts.
sergeant · servant
Latin serviēns ‘serving; a servant’
- Old French sergentsergeant
- Old French servantservant
A sergeant was first simply someone who served.
card · chart
Latin charta ‘paper (from Greek χάρτης, khártēs ‘papyrus’)’
- Middle French cartecard
- Middle French chartechart
Charter belongs to the same family.
canal · channel
Latin canālis ‘channel, narrow passage’
- French canalcanal
- Old French chanelchannel
Channel shows the French sound change from ca- to cha-; canal keeps the Latin shape.
poor · pauper
Latin pauper ‘poor’
- Old French povrepoor
- straight from Latin, first as a legal termpauper
Poor came through everyday French; pauper was borrowed later for the law courts.
particle · parcel
Latin particula ‘small part (from pars ‘part’)’
- French particule, or from Latinparticle
- Old French parcelle, from Italian particellaparcel
A parcel was once a small part of something, as in ‘part and parcel’.
native · naive
Latin nātīvus ‘native, natural’
- Old French natifnative
- French naïve (feminine of naïf)naive
Native came through Old French; naive is the modern French feminine form, with the French spelling.
ticket · etiquette
Old French estiquette ‘label, note (from a Germanic verb ‘to stick’)’
- Middle French etiquetticket
- French étiquette (1740)etiquette
One French word for a label or note: ticket came through older French, and etiquette was borrowed again in 1740.
custom · costume
Latin cōnsuētūdō ‘habit, custom’
- Old French coustumecustom
- French costume, from Italiancostume
A costume was the customary dress of a place or time.
abridge · abbreviate
Late Latin abbreviāre ‘to shorten (from brevis ‘short’)’
- Old French abregierabridge
- Latin abbreviātusabbreviate
Both mean to shorten, one through French and one straight from Latin.
major · mayor
Latin maior ‘greater (comparative of magnus)’
- Latin maiormajor
- Old French mairemayor
A mayor is the ‘greater’ person of a town.
poignant · pungent
Latin pungere ‘to prick, sting’
- Old French poignantpoignant
- Latin pungēnspungent
A pungent smell and a poignant memory both sting.
ransom · redemption
Latin redēmptiō ‘buying back’
- Old French raençonransom
- Old French redemption, from Latinredemption
A ransom buys a captive back.
example · sample
Latin exemplum ‘example (literally ‘something taken out’)’
- Old French exampleexample
- Anglo-Norman essample, losing its first syllablesample
Sample is example with the beginning worn away.
whole · hale
Old English hāl ‘healthy, whole’
- Middle English hole, hool (the wh- spelling appears around 1400)whole
- Middle English hale, a northern formhale
A doublet inside English itself: two regional forms of the same Old English word.
cipher · zero
Arabic ṣifr (صِفْر) ‘empty, zero’
- Old French cifre, Medieval Latincipher
- Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirumzero
Cipher once meant the figure 0 itself; the Arabic word is a translation of Sanskrit śūnya ‘empty’.
turban · tulip
Persian dulband (دلبند) ‘turban’
- Ottoman Turkish, Italian turbante, French turbantturban
- Ottoman Turkish, French tulipan, tulipetulip
Both came west through Ottoman Turkish tülbend.
fashion · faction
Latin factiō ‘a making; a group acting together (from facere)’
- Old French faceon, façonfashion
- French faction, from Latinfaction
Fashion is a way of making things; a faction is a group that acts together.
pursue · prosecute
Latin prōsequī ‘to follow, pursue’
- Anglo-Norman pursuerpursue
- Latin prōsecūtusprosecute
To prosecute a case is to follow it through.
chase · catch
Vulgar Latin *captiāre ‘to try to catch (from capere ‘to take’)’
- Old French chacierchase
- Old Northern French cachiercatch
Northern French kept the hard c-; Parisian French turned it into ch-.
quiet · quit · coy
Latin quiētus ‘at rest’
- Old French quiete, from Latinquiet
- Old French quitte ‘free, released’quit
- Old French quei ‘quiet, still’coy
To quit is to be set free and at rest; coy first meant quiet and still.
gentle · genteel · jaunty
Latin gentīlis ‘of the same clan or family (from gēns ‘clan’)’
- Old French gentil ‘high-born’gentle
- French gentil, borrowed againgenteel
- French gentil, once spelled jantyjaunty
Gentle first meant high-born; genteel and jaunty are later borrowings of the same French gentil.
human · humane
Latin hūmānus ‘of people, human’
- Old French humainhuman
- Old French humain, an older spellinghumane
Humane was once just another spelling of human. Human became the usual spelling in the early 1700s, and humane kept the sense of kindness.
person · parson
Latin persōna ‘person; a mask or character in a play’
- Old French personeperson
- Anglo-Norman persone ‘parson, person’parson
In Anglo-Norman, persone meant both ‘person’ and ‘parson’.
Reading the channels
Each card starts at the spring: the source word, its language and its meaning. A channel runs from it to each English word, labelled with the route the word took. The usual pattern is one word that came early through spoken French, worn down by centuries of speech (frail, poison, sure), and another borrowed later from written Latin, still close to the original (fragile, potion, secure).
Search for any word in a set, a route such as Old French or Anglo-Norman, or a meaning such as head, and filter by the language of the source word. Each word links its Wiktionary entry, where the etymology section names the other members of the set.
Questions
What are doublets?
Words in the same language that go back to the same source word but arrived by different routes, so they now look and mean different things. Three or more are sometimes called triplets.
Why does English have so many?
English took words from Norman French after 1066, from central French later, and straight from Latin books throughout, so the same Latin word could arrive two or three times in different shapes.
Are cognates the same thing?
Not quite. Cognates are related words in different languages, like English father and Latin pater. Doublets are both inside English and share a single, specific source word.