Heather Broster
When I was a child, I would always look forward to Saturday mornings, as that was the day I’d receive a dollar from my dad to put towards whatever toy I was hankering after at the time. In Italian, the word for pocket money or allowance is paghetta (feminine, plural: paghette). Paghetta is the diminutive …
Snello is an adjective in Italian that means slender or slim. It usually refers to a person’s body or certain parts of the body. Interestingly, according to Treccani, it derives, not from Latin, but from the Germanic “snell” meaning nimble or quick. (“Schnell” means “fast” in German.) Indeed, this is how the word was originally …
The word for cherry in Italian is ciliegia (feminine). According to Treccani, the proper plural form is ciliegie, but up until the middle of the last century, the spelling ciliege was also fairly widespread. It comes from the Latin ceresia, which in turn derives from the Greek κερασος. The word for cherry tree is formed …
Today we have an adjective that should be pretty easy to remember! Simply stick an o onto the end of the English word fantastic, and you get the Italian equivalent fantastico. It is used to describe things that are wonderful and awe-inspiring. As with many adjectives, the -o ending is used to describe masculine nouns, …
The word fruscio (masculine) in Italian is a noun that usually describes the following kinds of subdued sounds: robes swishing flowing water of a stream or river leaves rustling in the wind feet walking along the ground snakes rustling in the grass In most cases, it equates in meaning to the words rustle or rustling …
The Italian word for blanket is coperta (feminine, plural: coperte). It derives from the past participle of the verb coprire (to cover) which is coperto (covered). There are many different kinds of blankets, including: coperta di lana = wool blanket coperta di pile* = fleece blanket coperta di seta = silk blanket coperta di cotone …