As our son’s birthday draws near, our thoughts have turned to wrapping regali (gifts), baking his torta (cake), and of course, birthday decorations. A classic decoration that makes an appearance at most feste (parties) is the palloncino, the Italian word for balloon.
palloncino
balloon
Palloncino is the diminutive form of pallone, a word that means ball, usually in a sporting context. For example, a soccer ball is known as a pallone da calcio. This in turn comes from palla, which is a more generic word for ball or sphere. You can tell it is diminutive from the -ino ending. It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles:
- il palloncino = the balloon
- i palloncini = the balloons
- un palloncino = a balloon
- dei palloncini = some balloons
One of the very first songs I sang to my son as an infant was Palloncino Blu. You can listen to it on YouTube and follow along with the lyrics below:
Il bambino giocava con il palloncino colorato.
The child was playing with the coloured balloon.
Here are a few common verbs you’ll see used with palloncino:
- gonfiare un palloncino = to blow up/inflate a balloon
- sgonfiare un palloncino = to deflate a balloon
- far scoppiare un palloncino = to pop a balloon
While the primary translation for palloncino is balloon, it is also an informal term for a breathalyser, the device used by police for measuring the amount of alcohol in a driver’s breath. The formal term for this is etilometro.
L’agente della polizia ha fermato l’automobilista e l’ha sottoposto alla prova del palloncino.
The police officer stopped the driver and subjected him to a breathalyser test.
More rarely, you may hear it used to describe a Chinese lantern, also known as a lampioncino in Italian.
If you say that something is a palloncino, you are suggesting that it is “balloon-like” in appearance. You will see this term used to describe lantern trousers, known as pantaloni a palloncino in Italian. These stylish trousers, designed with a high, fitted waist, billow out into voluminous, wide legs before tapering neatly at the ankle. They’re all the rage at the moment, but who knows for how long!
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
