estinguere

extinguish

verb eh-STEEN-gweh-reh Less Common

Origin: from Latin 'exstinguere', to put out

Also means

pay off

Usage Note

Estinguere is irregular (past participle estinto) and means to put out a fire. In finance it surprisingly means to 'pay off' a debt fully, as in estinguere un mutuo ('clear a mortgage'); reflexive estinguersi describes a species going extinct.

Examples

"I pompieri estinguono l'incendio."

Natural Translation

The firefighters extinguish the fire.

Literal Translation

The firefighters extinguish the-fire.

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