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rost

purpose, point, sense /ˈrost/

noun#822 most common

Also: order, proper place, livelihood, one's place in life, mouth (archaic, surviving in idiom)

Example sentences

Nu are niciun rost să pleci acum.
There's no point in leaving now.
Fiecare lucru are un rost.
Everything has a purpose.
Care e rostul acestei întâlniri?
What's the point of this meeting?
Și-a găsit rostul în viață devenind profesor.
He found his purpose in life by becoming a teacher.
Bunica punea mereu lucrurile la rostul lor.
Grandma always put things in their proper order.
Copiii recitau poezia pe de rost, fără să greșească un cuvânt.
The children recited the poem by heart, without getting a single word wrong.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativerostulrosturile
Genitiverostuluirosturilor
Accusativerostulrosturile
Vocativerostulerosturilor

Word family

a rostito utter, to pronounce
rostireutterance, pronunciation
a rostuito arrange, to put in order (regional)
rostuialăarrangement, order (regional)
fără rostpointless, for no reason

Etymology

Romanian rost comes from Latin rostrum, meaning beak, snout, or the platform from which Roman orators spoke. In popular Romanian speech the word narrowed first to mean mouth, then widened again to mean utterance, reason, and purpose. The verb a rosti, to utter or pronounce, keeps the original mouth sense intact, and the idiom pe de rost, meaning by heart, literally means by mouth, that is, from memory rather than from a page.

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