1924 costare to cost. From Latin constare (“to stand together”; “to consist”; “to cost”). Cognate with cost. Doublet of constare (“to consist”).

1925 sottoscrivere to sign, firmare; to subscribe (to); to underwrite. The prefix sotto- corresponds to either sub- or under- in English. Example, sottoscrivere / firmare un contratto (“to sign a contract”).

1928 preventivo preventive, preemptive; (n.) quote, estimate, budget; estimated. Note the meanings other than “preventive”. Examples, attacco preventivo (“preemptive strike”); preventivo di spesa (“estimate of expense”); fare un preventivo (“to give an estimate”); bilancio preventivo (“budget”).

1930 uguale (adj., n.) equal, same. From Latin aequalis (“equal”). Cognate with equal. Latin ae changed to u in anticipation of the following labialized qu, causing “a premature partial closure of the lips” according to C.H. Grandgent. Example, uguale a (“the same as”, “equal to”; note this phrase has both meanings).

1932 preoccupare to worry, to concern, to preoccupy. English preoccupy is far less used than its cognate in Italian (or Spanish). Example, non preoccuparti (“don’t worry”).

1935 atleta athlete. Like Spanish atleta (or French athlète), this word is either masculine or feminine by sense, in spite of the fixed -a ending. But the plural is distinct, atleti and atlete, respectively. Example, il è un grande atleta (“he is a great athlete”).

1943 oro gold. From Latin aurum (“gold”). Cognate with Spanish oro and French or (“gold”). If you don’t know any other Roman language, remember the symbol for chemical element gold is Au. If you don’t remember that, remember one theory for the name of the famous Oreo cookies is that Oreo comes from the French word or, meaning “gold”. In fact, Oreo cookies do look kind of dark golden. Or use orange as a mnemonic and think of its golden color. While this word is not cognate with aurora, you can imagine a golden aurora. Examples, medaglia d’oro (“gold medal”); sogni d’oro (“sweet dreams”, literally “dreams of gold”).

1950 cifra figure, digit, number; cipher. From Latin cifra (“zero”), from Arabic. Cognate with cipher, zero, Spanish cero and French zéro (“zero”), doublet of Italian zero. The most helpful is of course English cipher. Example, cifre arabe (“Arabic numberals”, numeri arabi).

1952 trattato treaty; past participle of trattare (“to treat”, “to deal with”). From Latin tractatus (“handling”, “management”, “treatment”). Cognate with treaty. Example, trattato di pace (“peace treaty”).

1953 distruggere to destroy. From Latin *destrugere (“to destroy”). Cognate with destroy, French détruire (“to destroy”), and possibly Spanish estragar (“to ruin”). Example, Cartagine deve essere distrutta (“Carthage must be destroyed”, famously said by Cato the Elder, a politician of the Roman Republic).

1954 grafico graphic; (n.) chart, graph. Note the sense as a noun. Example, grafico a torta / a barre (“pie / bar chart”).

1957 voglia desire, wish, will, longing; first, second, or third-person singular present subjunctive of volere (“to want”). From Latin volo. Cognate with voluntary, volunteer. Examples, avere voglia di fare (“to want to do / feel like doing”); morire dalla voglia di fare (“dying / longing to do”); sembra che voglia ... (“it seems that I want / you want / (s)he wants ...”).

1962 tesoro treasure; (term of endearment) honey, darling, dear. From Latin thesaurus (“treasure”). Cognate with English treasure, thesaurus (“list or dictionary of synonyms”), Spanish tesoro and French trésor (“treasure”). Due to loss of aspiration of h, Latin th was simplified to t, and French, from which English treasure comes, had r intercalated to form tr. Early dictionaries, not just ones of synonyms, may be called thesauri (thesauruses) because the compilers intended to call them “treasures of words”. Example, grazie, tesoro (“thank you, darling”).

1964 netto net, clean. Examples, peso netto / lordo (“net / gross weight”); taglio netto (“clean cut”); prezzi al netto di eventuali imposte (“prices excluding any taxes”).

1966 eppure and yet, nevertheless, though, but (still). From e- + pure (“too”, “also”; “nevertheless”). The word pure can imply a shift in tone when used as a conjunction, translated as “nevertheless” or “although”. Example, eppure si muove (“and yet it moves”, allegedly muttered Galileo; its original form was e pur or eppur).