# semblar
## Catalan
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan semblar, from Late Latin similāre, a verb based on Latin similis (“alike”). Compare Occitan semblar, French sembler.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [səmˈbla]
* IPA: (Valencia) [semˈblaɾ]

### Verb

semblar (first-person singular present semblo, first-person singular preterite semblí, past participle semblat); root stress: (Central) /ɛ/; (Valencia) /e/; (Balearic) /ə/
* (impersonal) to seem, look
    Synonyms: parèixer, semblar se
    Sembla que vagi a ploure.It seems that it's going to rain.
* to look like, resemble
    Synonym: assemblar-se

#### Related terms

* semblant
* semblança

#### Descendants

* → Spanish: semblar

### References

* “semblar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
* “semblar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

## Franco-Provençal
### Alternative forms

* sembló (Beaujolais)
* sèblô (Bressan)
* simblâ (Dauphinois)
* semblá (Forézien)
* sembler (Lyonnais)
* sembler (Neuchâtelois)
* sembler (Savoyard)
* semblé (Valdôtain)
* sembllar (ORB, narrow)
** chèbyé (Bressan)
** chinbyâ (Fribourgeois)

### Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin similāre.

### Verb

semblar (ORB, broad)
* to seem
* to resemble

### References

* sembler in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
* sembllar in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

### Further information

* AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 7: “come somiglia” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
* ALF: Atlas Linguistique de la France [Linguistic Atlas of France] – map 1153: “ressemble” – on lig-tdcge.imag.fr
* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “sĭmĭlare”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 11: S–Si, page 623

## Ido
### Etymology

Borrowed from English seem, French sembler, Italian sembrare, ultimately from Late Latin similāre.

### Verb

semblar (present tense semblas, past tense semblis, future tense semblos, imperative semblez, conditional semblus)
* (intransitive) to seem, appear (to be)

#### Derived terms

* semblanta (“ostensible, seeming, apparent”)
* semble (“apparently, seemingly”)
* sembligar
* sembligo
* semblo (“appearance”)

## Old Occitan
### Etymology

From Late Latin similāre, a verb derived from Latin similis (“similar”). Compare Old French sembler.

### Verb

semblar
* seem; to appear

#### Descendants

* Occitan: semblar
* → Italian: sembrare, sembiare, semblare (poetic, archaic)
* → Portuguese: sembrar
* → Spanish: semblar (archaic)

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Old Catalan or Old Occitan semblar.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /semˈblaɾ/ [sẽmˈblaɾ]
* Rhymes: -aɾ
* Syllabification: sem‧blar

### Verb

semblar (first-person singular present semblo, first-person singular preterite semblé, past participle semblado)
* (intransitive, archaic) to look like, resemble, seem
    Synonym: semejar

#### Conjugation

$^1$Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language. $^2$Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

### Further reading

* “semblar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10