Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of fiŝkapti
Coloured illustration of fiŝkapti
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Translation

to fish, to angle

Word origin

Built from fiŝo, the Germanic fish word, and kapti, from Latin captare, to try to seize. Fish-catching, said in the order Esperanto always says it.

Origin
compound of fiŝo and kapti
Root
Fisch + captare
English cognates
fish, capture, catch

Examples

.

He fishes in the river every day.

.

We went fishing at the lake.

.

The sea is too rough to fish today.

English turns the noun into a verb and thinks nothing of it: you fish for fish. Esperanto cannot do that, because i would have to mean something vague like "to do fish", and the language does not like vague. So it names the action instead - -, fish-catching - and the meaning is exact from the first time you see it.

The head is on the right, as always in compound words: the thing you are doing is , catching, and - says what. Change the first root and you change the prey, which is how birdokapti and balenkapti work too.

Then the suffixes do their usual multiplication, and this root is one of the neatest demonstrations of it in the language:

WordPiecesMeaning
o+ -- (a person)a fisherman
o+ -- (a tool)a fishing rod
o+ -ad- (an action)fishing, angling
o+ -- (a place)a fishing ground

Four words for the price of one root and four suffixes you already know. That is the whole argument for the affix system, compressed into a single afternoon by the water.

Where this fits

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Esperanto · Free printables

fiŝkapti: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "fiŝkapti" (to fish, to angle): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 44.