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	Occitan	French	Cotentinais	Jèrriais	Italian	Romansh	Sardinian
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			le nez		l'nez	il naso	il nas	nasu
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			le verre		l'vèrre	il vetro	il vaider	bidru
								la vitre		l'vitre			vetru
Third declension
flower	flos, floris (3m)	floare (fem)	a flor	a flor	la flor			la fleur	la flleur	la flieur	il fiore	la flur	flore
		înflorire (fem)											fiore
colour	color, coloris (3m)	culoare (fem)	a cor	a cor	el color	el color		la couleur	la couoleu	la couleu	il colore	la colur	colore
		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	la punt	ponte
		ponton; pod (neut.)											ponti
inch	pollex, pollicis (3m)		a polegada	a polgada	la pulgada			le pouce			il pollice	il polesch	poddighe (mannu)
blood	sanguis, sanguinis (3m)	sînge ("masc")	o sangue	o sangue	la sangre		sang (fem)	le sang		l'sang	il sangue	il sang	sanguni
							sang (masc)						sangu
salt	sal, salis (3m)	sare (fem)	o sal	o sal	la sal	la sal		le sel			il sale	il sal	sale
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	la fin	fine
											il fine		finis
tree	arbor, arboris (3f)		a árvore	a árbore	el árbol			l'arbre (masc)	l'âbre (masc)	l'arbre (masc); l'bouais	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)	l'art (masc)	arte
					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	lach	le lait		l'lait	il latte	il latg	latte
sea	mar, maris (3n)	mare (fem)	o mar	o mar	el mar			la mer	la mé	la mé	il mare	la mar	mare
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	il glatsch	ghiacciu
landscape			a paisagem	a paisaxe	el paisaje			le paysage			il paesaggio		paesaggiu
cloud	nubes, nubis (?f)		a nuvem	a nube	la nube			le nuage	la nuaée	l'nouage	la nuvola	il nivel	nue
valley	valles, vallis (?f)		o vale	o val	el valle	la vall		la vallée		la vallée	la valle	la val	badde
													valli
flag			a bandeira	a bandeira	la bandera			le drapeau	la couoleu	la couleu	la bandiera
spider			a aranha	a araña	la araña			l'araignée (fem)		l'pêtre	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)		l'auto (fem)	la qùérette; la maringote; l'éto (?)	la vaituthe; moto (?)	l'auto (fem)	l'auto (masc)
tomato		tomată	o tomate	o tomate	el tomate	el tomàquet		la tomate		la tanmate		la tomata
Created from adjectival forms
minute		minut	o minuto	o minuto	el minuto			la minute	la minute	la minnute	il minuto	la minuta
Derived from verbs
conquest			a conquista	a conquista	la conquista			la conquète	le conqùet	la contchête	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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