pasanto in Esperanto: passer-by (noun)

Translation

passer-by

Word origin

Built inside Esperanto from pasi, which came through French passer from Vulgar Latin passare, to step, from Latin passus, a pace. English pass, passage and pace all come off the same root.

Origin: Built in Esperanto, on a Latin root
Root: pas + ant + o
English cognates: pass, passage, pace

Examples

.

A passer-by helped me find the station.

.

The passers-by stopped to look at the fire.

.

There were only a few passers-by on the street.

Three pieces, and English needs a hyphen for the same job. Pasi at rank 310 is to pass or go by, -ant- makes the one currently doing it, and -o makes it a noun. A is a passing-person: somebody who happens to be going past, which is precisely what English builds out of two words and a hyphen. The participial nominals article covers the pattern, and once you have it, atendanto, vojaĝanto and aŭskultanto all come free.

The tense is still live. Pasinto is one who has passed, and it is also the ordinary word for the past. Pasonto is one about to pass. These are not exotic forms; they are what the participle table is for.

Careful in prose: this word is one letter away from a different one. is to stride and would be a strider, but the hat is the only thing separating - from -. Write and with the circumflex every time. Paŝo at rank 327 is the safe one to lean on when you want the stepping sense, because it cannot be mistaken for anything.

Not a vojaĝanto. A traveller is going somewhere; a is merely going past you, and the word carries the accidental quality that makes it useful. It is the person you ask for directions.

Related words

pasi

to pass, go by; to elapse

strato

street

trotuaro

pavement, footway

placo

square (in a town), plaza

homo

person; human being

Where this fits

The 1,000 most common Esperanto words

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