A barrel brimming with beer. A plate overflowing with pasta. A heart bursting with joy. Anything that is full to the brim, be it physical or metaphorical, can be described using a simple adjective in Italian: colmo. Because it is an adjective, the ending changes depending on the gender and number of the person or …
Purtroppo, which is the word for unfortunately in Italian, is an adverb that derives from the union of two words: pure (which indicates something extra) and troppo (too much / too many). When joined, pure loses the final e. Originally, purtroppo had the meaning of pure se è troppo (even if it is too much) …
If you want to say to stuff / gorge oneself in Italian, you can use the reflexive verb abbuffarsi (alternative spelling: abboffarsi). According to Treccani, this verb likely derives from buffare meaning to huff or to puff. If you have trouble remembering it, I find it helpful to make a mental association with the term …
While watching the Italian Netflix drama Suburra, I couldn’t help but notice how many times the word impiccio (masculine, plural: impicci) came up in conversation, probably because the main characters always seem to be in a mafia-related bind of some sort! Impiccio can be translated in many ways in English including hindrance, mess, nuisance, trouble …
A child who causes trouble in a playful manner can be called mischievous or cheeky, which in Italian translates as birichino (masculine). Although the etymology of the word is uncertain, it is thought to originate from the Emilian dialect and may possibly be related to the word briccone (rascal). The feminine equivalent is birichina, whereas …
The word for crossroads in Italian is bivio (masculine, plural: bivi). Like the English equivalent, bivio has both a literal and figurative meaning. In the literal sense, it refers to the place where two roads meet, whereas in the figurative sense, it denotes the point at which a crucial decision, which will have significant consequences, …