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

Footnotes

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

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