Italian Word of the Day: Frutta / Frutto (fruit)

The Italian word frutta, like the word fruit in English, is a singular collective noun that refers to the category fruit in general, or a collection of fruit on display in a basket. It may also specifically denote the fruit course Italians tend to consume at the end of lunch. Frutta is almost always used …

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Italian Word of the Day: Spiaggia (beach)

My husband and I are extremely lucky live just a stone’s throw away from the beach, which translates as spiaggia (feminine, plural: spiagge) in Italian. It is a derivative of the now-obsolete word piaggia which means a variety of things including slope, shore and land. Below are the verbs you’ll most often see used with …

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Italian Word of the Day: Brufolo (pimple)

Many teenagers and some unfortunate adults suffer terribly from brufoli (masculine, singular: brufolo), the Italian word for pimples, zits or spots. An alternative spelling for brufolo is bruffolo with two Fs. Both are considered correct. According to Treccani, the word is thought to be a blend of the Latin terms verruca (wart) and rufulus (reddish, …

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Italian Word of the Day: Estate (summer)

The word for summer in Italian is estate (feminine, plural: estati). What is considered the first day of summer (il primo giorno d’estate) depends on whether you are using the meteorological (meteorologico) or astronomical (astronomico) definition of the seasons. According to the meteorological definition, summer always begins on June 1st and lasts until August 31st, …

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Italian Word of the Day: Orso (bear)

The word for bear in Italian is orso and it derives from the Latin word ursus. It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Today only eight species of bear are still in existence: Bears – like humans – tend to be omnivorous (onnivoro) with the only exceptions being the …

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Italian Word of the Day: Scemo (idiot / silly)

If you call someone an idiot in English, the implication is that the person in question lacks basic intelligence or common sense. In Italian, one of the closest translations, besides the precise equivalent idiota, is the word scemo which functions as both an adjective and a noun. Possible translations for scemo (as a noun)idiotfooldopedummy Possible …

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