Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of matura
Coloured illustration of matura
#1946 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

ripe; mature

Word origin

From Latin maturus, 'ripe, come at the right time'. The same root sits in matutinus, 'of the morning', which is how English got matinee - the shared idea being the proper, early, appointed hour.

Origin
Latin
Root
maturus
English cognates
mature, premature, matinee

Examples

.

The apples on that tree are not ripe yet.

, .

He is young, but he speaks very maturely.

.

In August the fruit is ripe and sweet.

Two senses, one word. is ripe when it is about fruit or grain, and mature when it is about people, judgement or a plan. Esperanto does not split them the way English half does, so and sit comfortably in the same vocabulary.

A false seam with a twist. The parse mat- plus -ur- is impossible: there is no suffix -ur- in Esperanto and no root mat-. So far, ordinary. The twist is mateno, morning, which looks like a cousin and is not one inside Esperanto - - and matur- are two separate borrowed roots and neither is built from the other. But go back far enough in Latin and the resemblance stops being accidental: maturus and matutinus do share an ancestor, the idea of the right early hour. The seam is false in the language you are learning and half-true in the language it came from, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes learners distrust their own instincts. Trust the Esperanto rule; the Latin is a story, not a build.

The derivations are regular and useful: i is to ripen (something the fruit does to itself), i is to ripen something else, o is maturity, and nematura is unripe or immature. is the adverb - , to act like an adult.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Esperanto · Free printables

matura: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 39.