Today’s ‘word of the day’ is part of our Italian Halloween Word series. On the days leading up to Halloween, we’ll post a word that is related to this spooky time of year. Enjoy! 🦇 The word for ghost is fantasma in Italian. It should be easy to remember as it shares the same origin …
Today’s ‘word of the day’ is part of our Italian Halloween Word series. On the days leading up to Halloween, we’ll post a word that is related to this spooky time of year. Enjoy! 🦇 Scheletro (masculine, plural: scheletri) is the Italian word for skeleton. It derives from the Greek term skeletos which means ‘dried …
The noun spavento (masculine, plural: spaventi) in Italian can translate in numerous ways including scare, fright, dread, terror or fear. It derives from the verb spaventare which means to frighten or to scare. It often appears in the company of the following verbs: fare spavento (a qualcuno) = to scare (somebody) mettere spavento (a qualcuno) …
An interesting adjective in Italian is entusiasta which, given its resemblance to the English, you might have guessed means enthusiastic. Unlike many other Italian adjectives, which have a masculine form ending in -o and a feminine form ending in -a, the final letter of entusiasta does not change according to the gender. So, for example, …
The word for squirrel in Italian is scoiattolo (masculine, plural: scoiattoli). Both terms can be traced back to the Greek skiouros, which is a combination of skia (shadow) and oura (tail). The diminutive scoiattolino can be used to indicate a small squirrel or a squirrel kitten. When you imagine a typical squirrel, what comes to …
The Italian word for surprise is sorpresa (feminine, plural: sorprese), which is the past participle of the verb sorprendere (to surprise). Both the English and Italian terms can trace their origin back to the medieval Latin verb superprehendere (to seize). Surprises can be broadly divided into two categories: belle sorprese (nice surprises) and brutte sorprese …