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