Italian Word of the Day: Abbraccio (hug)

Do you consider yourself the “huggy” type? Then you will love today’s word of the day! The word for hug in Italian is abbraccio. It derives from the verbs abbracciare (to hug) and abbracciarsi (to hug one another), which in turn come from the word braccio meaning arm. Abbraccio is a masculine noun starting with …

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Italian Word of the Day: Marito (husband)

A few months ago, we wrote an article about the word moglie (wife), so now it’s time to talk about the other half of the equation! The word for husband in Italian is marito (masculine, plural: mariti). It comes from the Latin maritus which in turn is a derivative of mas / maris meaning male. …

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Italian Word of the Day: Aragosta (lobster)

Aragosta (feminine, plural: aragoste) is what Italians call a lobster, everyone’s favourite large marine crustacean (crostaceo) with stalked eyes and pincers. Both the Italian and English words can be traced back to the Latin locusta, the word for locust. It was presumably called as such because of the similarity in appearance between the two creatures! …

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Italian Word of the Day: Topo (mouse)

What is furry, cute and classified as both a house pet and a pest? Why, the humble mouse of course! The word for mouse in Italian is topo (masculine, plural: topi), which was originally a dialectal variant of talpa (mole). There are various synonyms for topo when referring to the family of rodent in Italian, …

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Italian Word of the Day: Trucco (make-up / trick)

The Italian word trucco (masculine, plural: trucchi) has different meanings. One of the first that comes to mind is make-up. It can be used in reference to cosmetics applied to the face in order to beautify a person’s appearance, as well as theatrical make-up used to alter a person’s face for live performances, film or …

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Italian Word of the Day: Magia (magic)

The word for magic in Italian is magia (feminine, plural: magie). Both words can be traced back to the Latin magica, which in turn comes from the Greek magike (‘the art of magus’). Below are some useful verbs you’ll often see used with magia: Nel medioevo, tutti credevano nella magia. In the Middle Ages, everyone …

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