Since they are historically very closely related, it is no surprise that the three languages share many linguistic characteristics at all levels of description, not just semantic. The phonological and orthographic form of words which come from a single root are more or less similar depending on the diversifications which have taken place in each language. Thus the English word bath, /bA:T/ has the German equivalent Bad, /bA:t/ and the Dutch bad, /bAt/. The differences can all be attributed to regular phonological changes and different orthographic conventions.
