Italian Word of the Day: Matto (crazy)

Matto is one of many ways you can translate the word crazy into Italian. It is thought to come from the late Latin mattus, which means drunk, and later assumed the meaning of stupid before acquiring its current definition. Because matto is an adjective, the masculine singular ending –o changes to –a for the feminine …

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Italian Word of the Day: Ciliegia (cherry)

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 …

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Italian Word of the Day: Doccia (shower)

The word for shower in Italian is doccia (feminine, plural: docce). It derives from the now-obsolete doccio, the term for an archaic kind of gutter or drainpipe. As in English, doccia can refer to the apparatus that produces the spray of water, the cubicle itself, and the act of showering. To take / to have …

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How to Say “Phone Number” in Italian – Numero di Telefono

The Italian word for phone number is numero di telefono (masculine, plural: numeri di telefono). All About Italian Phone Numbers Landline numbers (numeri fissi) always start with the digit 0 and are 6 to 11 digits long. For example, in the city of Turin where we used to live, all landline numbers have the area …

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Italian Word of the Day: Bottiglia (bottle)

The word for bottle in Italian is the similar-sounding bottiglia (feminine, plural: bottiglie). Unlike many Italian words which can be traced directly to Latin, bottiglia comes from the Spanish botilla meaning wine vessel. Drinks generally come in two types: bottiglie di plastica (plastic bottles) or bottiglie di vetro (glass bottles). When talking about small bottles …

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