# sleep / dream



## Outsider

I've just discovered that Spanish uses the same word for these two concepts, _sueño_.

It was quite a surprise, as in Portuguese we say _sono_ for "sleep" and _sonho_ for "dream".

Does your language have two different nouns, too? Does it have one noun with both meanings?

Thank you for your replies.


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## Lemminkäinen

As far as I know, Russian only has one word for both of the concepts, *сон*.

In French:

sleep: *sommeil*
dream: *rêve*

Norwegian:

sleep: *søvn* (bokmål/nynorsk), *svevn* (nynorsk)
dream: *drøm* (bm), *draum* (nn)


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## spakh

In Turkish
sleep= uyku
dream=rüya, düş

sue_ño_ is used for both sleep and dream, what about to sleep and to dream, the same verb?


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## Frank06

Hi,

In Dutch:

sleep = de slaap
dream = de droom

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Outsider

spakh said:


> _sueño_ is used for both sleep and dream, what about to sleep and to dream, the same verb?


There is another verb in Spanish which just means "to sleep", _durmir_.
Although the noun _sueño_ can mean either "sleep" or "dream", the cognate verb _soñar_ seems to just mean "to dream".

Another curious point is that the Portuguese noun _sonho_ "dream" looks like it might be a loanword from Spanish...


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## betulina

Hi, in Catalan we have two different nouns:

sleep - *son*
dream - *somni*



Outsider said:


> There is another verb in Spanish which just means "to sleep", _dormir_.


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## Etcetera

Lemminkäinen said:


> As far as I know, Russian only has one word for both of the concepts, *сон*.


Yes, it's right.
But the word dream, when it means "a wish to have or be smth, especially one that seems difficult to achieve", is translated into Russian as мечта.


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## Jerakeen

In German - very similar to the dutch version: der _Schlaf_ und der _Traum_.
Isn't it strange to have only one word for this things? Sounds like there's missing something.


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## Lemminkäinen

Etcetera said:


> Yes, it's right.
> But the word dream, when it means "a wish to have or be smth, especially one that seems difficult to achieve", is translated into Russian as мечта.



Is there any way to separate between them when speaking about only one of the concepts? Or is it perhaps usually clear from the context which is spoken of? (This question goes for all languages with only one noun).


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## huelin

And in Italian:

sonno = sleep
sogno = dream

It is interesting that in four other Romanic languages (Portuguese, French, Catalan, Italian) there is a difference, while in Spanish you use the same word.  

By the way, in Latin there is also only one word ("somnus") for both. So the distinction in the other languages must have emerged later.


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## Ilmo

In *Finnish* there bis only one word *uni* meaning both sleep and dream.
However, there is another word *unelma*, that could be translated as 
"daydream" which corresponds the Spanish "ensueño".
You can have daydreams without actually sleeping at all, can't you?

In Finnish, *we* *see dreams, *("näemme unia"). How is it in other languages, are you also seeing them?


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## Outsider

huelin said:


> By the way, in Latin there is also only one word ("somnus") for both. So the distinction in the other languages must have emerged later.


My dictionary traces Portuguese _sonho_ back to _somn*i*um_. It may be an inflection of _somnus_, but I don't speak Latin, so I don't know...



Ilmo said:


> In Finnish, *we* *see dreams, *("näemme unia"). How is it in other languages, are you also seeing them?


I don't mind adding this side question to the topic. In Portuguese, we "have" a dream. (Though we can also say that we "saw" something _in a dream_.)


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## robbie_SWE

Interesting! In Romanian there are two different words for _sleep_ and _dream_: 

_sleep_ = *somn* 
_dream_ = *vis*

I've always wondered why the Romanian word for dream comes from the Latin *visum*, while the other Romance languages derive it from another Latin word!!?? What do you guys think?

In Swedish it's like this: 

_sleep_ = *sömn*
_dream_ = *dröm*

 robbie


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## huelin

Lemminkäinen said:


> Is there any way to separate between them when speaking about only one of the concepts? Or is it perhaps usually clear from the context which is spoken of? (This question goes for all languages with only one noun).


 
Usually it is clear which one is meant. 

For example, without article (within a sentence) it always means "sleep":
"Tengo mucho sueño" = "I am very tired"
"Tienes cara de sueño" = "You look sleepy"

And with the indefinite article, it always means "dream".
"Tengo un sueño" = "I have a dream"
"Ha sido un sueño muy bonito" = "It was a very nice dream"



			
				Ilmo said:
			
		

> In Finnish, *we* *see dreams, *("näemme unia"). How is it in other languages, are you also seeing them?


 
As far as I know, in most laguages you say "to have a dream". 

But there is one strange thing about "soñar" = "to dream" in Spanish. You don't say "to dream of s.o./s.th." or "to dream about s.o./s.th.", like in most other languages, but "to dream *with* s.o./s.th.", i.e. "soñar *con *alguien/algo".



			
				Outsider said:
			
		

> My dictionary traces Portuguese _sonho_ back to _somn*i*um_. It may be an inflection of _somnus_, but I don't speak Latin, so I don't know...


 
You are right and I was wrong, sorry. This was due to the fact that the official dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy only mentions "somnus" as origin of the word "sueño", and on some other pages I also found "somnus = sleep, dream".

So it is more probable that in Spanish both words have merged, at a certain point.


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## Outsider

huelin said:


> But there is one strange thing about "soñar" = "to dream" in Spanish. You don't say "to dream of s.o./s.th." or "to dream about s.o./s.th.", like in most other languages, but "to dream *with* s.o./s.th.", i.e. "soñar *con *alguien/algo".


In Portuguese, too. 



huelin said:


> You are right and I was wrong, sorry. This was due to the fact that the official dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy only mentions "somnus" as origin of the word "sueño", and on some other pages I also found "somnus = sleep, dream".
> 
> So it is more probable that in Spanish both words have merged, at a certain point.


I'm still not sure. Isn't _somnus_ the nominative? Most Spanish and Portuguese words were derived from the accusative, right? Could it be that _somnium_ is the accusative of _somnus_?


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## Thomas1

In *Polish *we differentiatie the verbs (śnić-to dream; spać-to sleep) but not the nouns:
sen: sleep; dream

Tom


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## Maja

In Serbian:

to sleep - spavati
to dream - sanjati

sleep (n.) - san; spavanje
dream (n.) - san; sanjarija
​


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## dointime

Romanian has:
to sleep = a dormi
to dream = a visa

sleep (noun) = somn
dream (noun) = vis


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## gao_yixing

Chinese:
sleep v.睡(shui) or 睡觉(shui jiao); n. 睡眠(shui mian)
dream v. 做梦(zuo meng) or 梦想(meng xiang, which is not dreaming while sleeping, but dreaming the future); n. 梦(meng)


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## elroy

In Arabic, we have two words.

"Sleep" is نوم (_nawm_) and "dream" is حلم (_Hulum_).


Outsider said:


> There is another verb in Spanish which just means "to sleep", _durmir_.


 The verb is "d*o*rmir." The "o" changes to a "u" in some of the irregular forms.  


Ilmo said:


> In Finnish, *we* *see dreams, *("näemme unia"). How is it in other languages, are you also seeing do you also see them?


 In Arabic, we dream dreams.


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## panjabigator

Outsider, doesn't "to dream" require the preposition "con" to be the verb "to dream?"

Or am I confused...I need sleep!


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

In Slovene:

to sleep - spati
to dream - sanjati​ 
sleep (n.) - sen; spanje
dream (n.) - sen; sanje​


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## Cnaeius

huelin said:


> And in Italian:
> 
> sonno = sleep
> sogno = dream
> 
> It is interesting that in four other Romanic languages (Portuguese, French, Catalan, Italian) there is a difference, while in Spanish you use the same word.
> 
> By the way, in Latin there is also only one word ("somnus") for both. So the distinction in the other languages must have emerged later.


 
As it has already been pointed out Latin has two words:
Somnus (m) = sleep
Somnium (n)= dream (e.g. _Somnium Scipionis)_
In my (little) experience I never saw somnus translated as dream.


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## Cnaeius

Outsider said:


> In Portuguese, too.
> 
> I'm still not sure. Isn't _somnus_ the nominative? Most Spanish and Portuguese words were derived from the accusative, right? Could it be that _somnium_ is the accusative of _somnus_?


 
The accusative of somnus is somnum. But, as you see, there is a little difference between somnium and somnum. So, I think, in Spanish they could merge together very easily.


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## Outsider

panjabigator said:


> Outsider, doesn't "to dream" require the preposition "con" to be the verb "to dream?"


As far as the verb is concerned, there is no ambiguity. _Soñar_ means "to dream". It's the noun that has both meanings.



Cnaeius said:


> The accusative of somnus is somnum. But, as you see, there is a little difference between somnium and somnum. So, I think, in Spanish they could merge together very easily.


Yes, especially since the merger falls in line with the typical Spanish sound shift *nn --> ñ*. I imagine the stages must have been:

somnum --> sonno --> sueño
somnium --> sonnio --> sueño

with *ñ + semivowel i* assimilating to *ñ*.

Thanks, Cnaeius.


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## karuna

*In Latvian:
*sleep – miegs
dream – sapnis

But there are differences how these words are used and verb forms have wider application, so I am giving them also:

to sleep – gulēt
to dream – sapņot


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## J.F. de TROYES

Cnaeius said:


> As it has already been pointed out Latin has two words:
> Somnus (m) = sleep
> Somnium (n)= dream (e.g. _Somnium Scipionis)_
> In my (little) experience I never saw somnus translated as dream.


 
You're right, the meaning of the two words are clearly separated and it's the same for the verbs:
Dormio,ire = to sleep
Somnio, iare = to dream.


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## roh3x2n

Farsi 

Dream : خواپ khowab
Sleep :  خواپ khowab

Roya can also be said for dream,but it is more like fantansy dreams.


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## panjabigator

Rox3x2n, could you give sentences for those words?  How do you say "I am dreaming" and "I am sleeping."  Are they very different from each other or not?  And to explain that you had a dream, do you have to state the dream afterwords or is there another way to explain this?


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## roh3x2n

In Farsi both of them are nouns.
We use the difference verbs to make the difference between.


deedan = to see

Kardan = to do

For dream we use the verb Seeing.
and for the sleep we use the verb doing.


Man khowab me-ko-num = this means I sleep.


man khowab me-bee-num = this means that I dream.


me-ko-num    and   me-bee-num  are conjugated verbs of deedan and kardan.


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## cherine

elroy said:


> Ilmo said:
> 
> 
> 
> In Finnish, *we* *see dreams, *("näemme unia"). How is it in other languages, do you see them?
> 
> 
> 
> In Arabic, we dream dreams.
Click to expand...

And we also see them.  Although I can't say for sure which usage is more common than the other.
حلمت حلمًا
7alumtu 7ulman
رأيتُ حلمًا 
ra2aytu 7ulman


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## amikama

Two different words in Hebrew:

sleep (n.) = *שינה* (_sheina_) 
sleep (v.) = *לישון* (lishon)

dream (n.) = *חלום* (_halom_)
dream (v.) = *לחלום* (_lahlom_)

In Hebrew we dream dreams.


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## kewongjapan

Malay

Sleep : Tidur
Dream : Mimpi


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## mcibor

Thomas1 said:


> In *Polish *we differentiatie the verbs (śnić-to dream; spać-to sleep) but not the nouns:
> sen: sleep; dream
> 
> Tom



In Polish, actually, there are three verbs, cause English dream has two meanings:

dream, while sleeping: śnić
dream, awake: marzyć
sleep: spać

Co the question:
Co ci się śniło? - what were you dreaming about (at night)
and
O czym właśnie marzyłeś? - what were you dreaming about (just now) 
are completely different

It's a strange concept to have only one word for all that, especially that from context is hard to differenciate


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## 0stsee

Outsider said:


> Spanish uses the same word for these two concepts, _sueño_.
> 
> It was quite a surprise, as in Portuguese we say _sono_ for "sleep" and _sonho_ for "dream".
> 
> Does your language have two different nouns, too? Does it have one noun with both meanings?
> 
> Thank you for your replies.


 

In *Indonesian*:

sleep = tidur

dream = mimpi


Another proof that *Manado-Malay* is strongly influenced by Portuguese is:

(fall) asleep = *tasono *(ta- a prefix)

sleep = tidor

dream = mimpi


Mark


Mark


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog:

Sleep - Tulog 
dream - Panaginip 

To sleep - matulog 
to dream - managinip


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## starsiege

In Tamil

sleep =thuukam
dream =kanavu

to sleep"thuunguthal
to dream=kanavu kanuthal


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## kimchi39

In Korean,

sleep - 잠
dream - 꿈


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## Nizo

Outsider said:


> Incidentally, how do you say "sleep" in Esperanto?


 
In Esperanto, "to sleep" is _dormi_.  "Sleep" as a noun is _dormo_.


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## noncasper

In Vietnamese:
Sleep: Ngủ
Dream: Mơ


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## avok

Ilmo said:


> In Finnish, *we* *see dreams, *("näemme unia"). How is it in other languages, are you also seeing them?


 
In Turkish, we also "see dreams" : "rüya görmek"
rüya:dream, görmek:to see


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## veracity

to sleep -  aludni
to dream - álmodni

These are in Hungarian. I feel they are different, but there may be something common in them. The meanings of the two words are clearly different.

Nem mindíg álmodom amikor alszom, vagy legalábbis nem emlékszem mindíg arra, hogy mit álmodtam.


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## xxQQxx

In Estonian:
sleep - magama
dream - unenägu


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## MarX

Outsider said:


> I've just discovered that Spanish uses the same word for these two concepts, _sueño_.
> 
> It was quite a surprise, as in Portuguese we say _sono_ for "sleep" and _sonho_ for "dream".
> 
> Does your language have two different nouns, too? Does it have one noun with both meanings?
> 
> Thank you for your replies.


*Indonesian* has two different words:
sleep = *tidur*
dream = *mimpi*

À propos Portuguese *sono*, in *Manado-Malay*, _to fall asleep_ = *tasono*, with _ta-_ being a prefix.


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## Dr. Quizá

Despite in Spanish we have the same word for both "sleep" and "dream", we also have the two different concepts and "sueño" as "dream" is countable while as "sleep" is uncountable, so there is no confusion.


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## kusurija

Czech:
to sleep - spát
to dream - snít, zdát se
I dreamed - zdálo se mi
sleep _n. _- spánek
dream _n. _- sen
Lithuanian: 
to sleep - miegoti
to dream - sapnuoti
sleep _n. _- miegas
dream _n. _- sapnas


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## kusurija

Japanese:
to sleep - 寝る[neru];眠る、寝むる[nemuru]
to dream - 夢を見る[yume (w)o miru]
sleep _n. _- 眠り[nemuri]、睡眠[suimin]
dream _n. _- 夢[yume]


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## Anatoli

Etcetera said:


> Yes, it's right.
> But the word dream, when it means "a wish to have or be smth, especially one that seems difficult to achieve", is translated into Russian as мечта.


Well that means that *Russian* has words for both concepts, so, the original Lemminkäinen's assumption is incorrect but I need to clarify:

сон - dream (vision in your sleep); sleep
мечта - (day) dream

We use the verb "при*сн*иться" (from "сон") to describe a dream.


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## kusurija

Anatoli said:


> Well that means that *Russian* has words for both concepts, so, the original Lemminkäinen's assumption is incorrect but I need to clarify:
> 
> сон - dream (vision in your sleep); sleep
> мечта - (day) dream
> 
> We use the verb "при*сн*иться" (from "сон") to describe a dream.


Ah, I thought, that мечта [mechta] means desire?


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## JGreco

> Despite in Spanish we have the same word for both "sleep" and "dream", we also have the two different concepts and "sueño" as "dream" is countable while as "sleep" is uncountable, so there is no confusion.



I think there might be a difference between Latin America and Spain with this one. I remember on a news documentary about language change produced by either a Chilean or Argentinian Broadcaster (I could not find it on Youtube sorry  ) In Latin American there are two different phonemes for sleep and Dream. To "Dormir" is to "want to go to sleep or to fall asleep" while "Sueño" specifically means "to dream or to be sleepy" the meanings can't be mixed and "Sueño" can not mean "sleep" in the Latin American perspective.


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## jana.bo99

Croatian: 

Sleep and dream- Spavati i sanjati 

or better say to somebody: 

Dobro spavaj i lijepo sanjaj!


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## Dr. Quizá

JGreco said:


> I think there might be a difference between Latin America and Spain with this one. I remember on a news documentary about language change produced by either a Chilean or Argentinian Broadcaster (I could not find it on Youtube sorry  ) In Latin American there are two different phonemes for sleep and Dream. To "Dormir" is to "want to go to sleep or to fall asleep" while "Sueño" specifically means "to dream or to be sleepy" the meanings can't be mixed and "Sueño" can not mean "sleep" in the Latin American perspective.



"Sueño" is a noun. "Dormir" is a verb.

Dormir - To sleep.
Dormirse - To fall asleep.
Tener sueño - To be sleepy.
Tener *un* sueño - To have a dream.
Soñar - To dream.


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## Nanon

Out, alongside "rêve", the word "songe", also related to somnium, exists in French. The meaning is similar but the register is more poetic.


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## Outsider

Merci. Je ne la connaissais pas.


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## OldAvatar

robbie_SWE said:


> I've always wondered why the Romanian word for dream comes from the Latin *visum*, while the other Romance languages derive it from another Latin word!!?? What do you guys think?
> 
> In Swedish it's like this:
> 
> _sleep_ = *sömn*
> _dream_ = *dröm*
> 
> robbie



As far as I know, the Latin word for dream was _somnium. _Romanian uses *vis* from _visum_, which in Latin meant _*vision*_, _*view*_, _*sight*_ etc. but not exactly *dream*. Since in Romanian, *somn  *has got the sense of _*sleeping*_, in order not to create confusion, people probably needed another word and they came up with *vis *...


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## apmoy70

Greek:

Sleep: *«Ύπνος»* [ˈipnos] (masc.) < Classical masc. *«ὕπνος» húpnŏs* --> _sleep_ (PIE *su(e)p-no-/*su(o)p-no- _to sleep_ cf Skt. स्वप्न (svapna), _sleep_, Lat. somnus (idem), ToA späm/ToB spane (idem), Proto-Slavic *sъnъ (idem), Proto-Germanic *swefnaz (idem), Arm. քուն (kʿun), _sleep_, Alb. gjumë, _sleep_).

Dream(s): *«Όνειρο/όνειρα»* [ˈoniɾo] (neut. nom. sing.), [ˈoniɾa] (neut. nom. pl.) < Classical neut. *«ὄναρ» ónar* (used only in nom. and acc. sing.) --> _dream_, especially _fortune-telling dream, vision_; the MoGr word derives from the name of god *«Ὄνειρος» Óne̯irŏs*, the personification of dream in ancient Greek mythology (PIE *h₃en-r-/*h₃ner-io- _to dream_; the word is limited to Greek and two neighbouring languages: Arm. անուրջ (anurj) < *onōr-i̯o-, Alb. ëndërr).

So, no connection between the two.


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian like in Spanish (and Latin) the same word can be used for "sleep" and "dream", even if in Sardinian there is an alternative word for "dream"

Sleep / Dream = _Sonnu (Lat. "Somnus" = sleep, dream)_
Dream = _Sonniu (Lat. "Somnium" = dream)_
To Dream = _Sonniare (Lat. "Somniare" = to dream)_


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