Faux Genders

Spanish and French, both being Romance languages, have a gender attribute to their nouns. Also, being related, many words have the same origin. These are called cognates. In French, cognates that don't have the same meaning as their source are called faux amis. Having studied French before Spanish, and not ever having been good at remembering what gender a given noun was in French, I found it convenient to rely on Spanish when I needed a noun's gender, since remembering a noun's gender in Spanish is as simple as learning only a few rules and a handful of exceptions. However, it turns out that not all French-Spanish cognates have the same gender, though probably well over 90% do.

Here's a small compilation of exceptions that Jonathan North Washington, Hannah Beth Washington, George Martin Fell Brown, and Michael-Forest Meservy have been able to collect.

The Chart

Faux Genders

English	Latin	Romanian	Portuguese	Galician	Spanish	Catalan	Jèrriais	Cotentinais	French	Occitan	Italian	Sardinian	Romansh
First declension
edge, border	ora, orae (1f)	bordură (fem)	a orla	o bordo	la orla				la bordure		l'orlo (masc)	oru
Second declension
nose	nasus, nasi (2m)		o nariz	o nariz	la nariz		l'nez		le nez		il naso	nasu	il nas
journey, voyage	viaticus, viatici (2m)		a viagem	a viaxe	el viaje	el viatge			le voyage		il viaggio
glass	vitrum, vitri (2n)		o vidro	o vidro	el vidrio		l'vèrre		le verre		il vetro	bidru	il vaider
							l'vitre		la vitre			vetru
Third declension
flower	flos, floris (3m)	floare (fem)	a flor	a flor	la flor		la flieur	la flleur	la fleur		il fiore	flore	la flur
		înflorire (fem)										fiore
colour	color, coloris (3m)	culoare (fem)	a cor	a cor	el color	el color	la couleu	la couoleu	la couleur		il colore	colore	la colur
		colorit (neut)				la color
pain	dolor, doloris (3m)	durere (fem)	a dor	a dor	el dolor	el dolore			la douleur		il dolore	dolore
						la dolore
bridge	pons, pontis (3m)	punte (fem)	a ponte	a ponte	el puente	el pǫnt			le pont		il ponte	ponte	la punt
		ponton; pod (neut.)										ponti
inch	pollex, pollicis (3m)		a polegada	a polgada	la pulgada				le pouce		il pollice	poddighe (mannu)	il polesch
blood	sanguis, sanguinis (3m)	sînge ("masc")	o sangue	o sangue	la sangre		l'sang		le sang	sang (fem)	il sangue	sanguni	il sang
										sang (masc)		sangu
salt	sal, salis (3m)	sare (fem)	o sal	o sal	la sal	la sal			le sel		il sale	sale	il sal
labor, task, ploughing	labor, laboris (3m)		o lavouro	o labor	la labor				le labeur		il lavoro
									le labour
end	finis, finis (3m, i-stem)		o fim	o fin	el fin				la fin		la fine	fine	la fin
											il fine	finis
tree	arbor, arboris (3f)		a árvore	a árbore	el árbol		l'arbre (masc); l'bouais	l'âbre (masc)	l'arbre (masc)		l'albero (masc)	arvere
												a(l/r)bure
art	ars, artis (3f)		a arte	a arte	el arte		l'art (masc)		l'art (masc)		l'arte (fem)	arte	l'art (masc)
					las artes
custom	consuetudo, consuetudinis (3f)		o costume	o costume	la costumbre				la coutume		il costume	costumene
origin	origo, originis (3f)	origine (fem)	a origem	a orixe	el origen				l'origine (fem)		l'origine (fem)	origine
hail	grando, grandinis (3f)		o granizo		el granizo				la grêle		la grandine		la granella
milk	lac, lactis (3n)	lapte (neut)	o leite	o leite	la leche	llet	l'lait		le lait	lach	il latte	latte	il latg
sea	mar, maris (3n)	mare (fem)	o mar	o mar	el mar		la mé	la mé	la mer		il mare	mare	la mar
honey	mel, mellis (3n)	miere (fem)	o mel	o mel	la miel	el mel			le miel		il miele	miele
						la mel
Fourth declension
Fifth declension
ice	glacies, glaciei (5f)		o gelo	o xeo	el hielo				la glace		il ghiaccio	ghiacciu	il glatsch
landscape			a paisagem	a paisaxe	el paisaje				le paysage		il paesaggio	paesaggiu
cloud	nubes, nubis (?f)		a nuvem	a nube	la nube		l'nouage	la nuaée	le nuage		la nuvola	nue	il nivel
valley	valles, vallis (?f)		o vale	o val	el valle	la vall	la vallée		la vallée		la valle	badde	la val
												valli
flag			a bandeira	a bandeira	la bandera		la couleu	la couoleu	le drapeau		la bandiera
spider			a aranha	a araña	la araña		l'pêtre		l'araignée (fem)		il ragno
Neologisms
make-up			a maquiagem		el maquillaje				le maquillage
garage		garaj (neut)	a garagem	o garaxe	el garaje	el garatge			le garage				la garascha
car		automobil (neut)	o auto		el auto	l'auto (masc)	la vaituthe; moto (?)	la qùérette; la maringote; l'éto (?)	l'auto (fem)		l'auto (fem)		l'auto (masc)
tomato		tomată	o tomate	o tomate	el tomate	el tomàquet	la tanmate		la tomate				la tomata
Created from adjectival forms
minute		minut	o minuto	o minuto	el minuto		la minnute	la minute	la minute		il minuto		la minuta
Derived from verbs
conquest			a conquista	a conquista	la conquista		la contchête	le conqùet	la conquète		la conquista
shelf			a estante	o estante	el estante				l'étagère (fem)

Footnotes

1. This is the first test footnote ¹
2. This is the second

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