Word of the Week: plný – ‘‘full’

Plný, which means ‘full’ in Czech, is an ordinary word, but with ancient origins. We can easily trace its family tree back to the prehistoric source of the Indo-European languages.

Via another branch of that tree, plný is related to the Latin word for ‘full’, plēnus. The Latin has in turn given English words to do with fullness, like plenty and replenish.

English also has its own inherited member of this word family, although it’s not so obvious. Unlike Czech and Latin, English has passed through a very particular set of sound changes, which turns Ps into Fs. Compare Latin pater with English father, or piscis with fish. With that change in mind, we can better see how plný is distantly related to the English word that translates it: full.

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Příspěvek sdílený Radio Prague International (@radio_prague)