Heather Broster
Most people, regardless of whether or not they are studying the language of love, know that the word for thank you or thanks in Italian is grazie. However something of which they may not be aware is that there are eight (yes, eight!) different ways of translating thank you very much. Let’s take a look …
Crepapelle, or more specifically a crepapelle, is one of those Italian expressions that does not have a direct English equivalent. Comprising the words crepare (to crack / to die) and pelle (skin), it describes various actions that are carried out to the point of bursting or to the breaking point. The best way to understand …
An adjective that describes something in poor condition due to neglect or lack of care is trasandato (masculine). The feminine equivalent is trasandata and their respective plurals are trasandati and trasandate. It is the past participle of the obsolete verb trasandare, which is a combination of the prefix tra(n)s-, meaning across or beyond, and the …
One way of saying astonished, speechless or shocked in Italian is attonito. Being an adjective, it also has a feminine form (attonita), as well as masculine and feminine plural forms (attoniti and attonite). The word has an interesting origin according to Treccani. It comes from the Latin attonitus which itself is a derivative of the …
The Italian word for hail, as in pellets of frozen rain, is grandine (feminine, plural: grandini). It derives from the Latin word of the same spelling. One way of translating the verb to hail is to use the verb cadere (to fall), as in cade la grandine (the hail falls), but it is just as …
The Italian word for flame is fiamma (feminine, plural: fiamme). Both the Italian and English words can be traced back to the Latin flamma of the same meaning. /fiàm·ma/ Some of the most common types of flames and the objects that produce them include: La fiamma della candela oscillava nel vento. The flame of the …