incommode — a verb meaning “to inconvenience,” “to distress”, “to disturb”

incomodar — the Spanish verb of the same meanings

These words come down to us from Latin’s incommodus, meaning “inconvenient.” Essentially it’s a combination of the prefix in- that means “not” and the word “commodus” that means “convenient.”

If something is “convenient” to us, it provides what we need or what gives us “comfort.”

Knowing that “incommode” is a verb meaning that you are NOT providing “comfort” to someone if you incommode that person, helps when you are learning Spanish because in Spanish, the word for “comfortable” is “cómodo” to describe masculine words and “cómoda” to describe feminine words.

If something is “uncomfortable,” then it is “incómodo” or “incómoda.”

You can see how the Spanish words are closely related to their Latin ancestor, but sometimes English speakers don’t see a strong connection between them and our words of “comfortable” and “uncomfortable.”

Thus, if you know and understand our verb of “incommode,” it is easier to learn those Spanish words. We also use the word “incommodious” in English to mean “uncomfortable,” but we don’t use it often enough. If we did, that cognate connection would be more obvious when learning Spanish.

Why we started using the word “commode” in English to refer to a toilet is beyond me at the moment, but a person can certainly be “incommoded” by a “commode,” especially if that “commode” is “incómodo” (or a gross outhouse)— ha ha.

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Until next time.

Tammy Marshall

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