Italian Word of the Day: Per sempre (forever)

What has become predominantly a single word in English (forever) is actually two words in Italian: the preposition per (for) + sempre (always / still / increasingly). Below are a few common verbs you’ll see used with per sempre: Chi vuole vivere per sempre? Who wants to live forever? Some possible synonyms for per sempre …

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Italian Word of the Day: Pecora (sheep)

The word pecora (feminine, plural: pecore) is the common name for all bovine mammals of the genus Ovis, comprising six wild species and numerous domestic breeds. It is also the specific term for the female adult sheep. The male is known as montone or ariete (ram) whereas the offspring is called agnello (lamb) up to …

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Italian Word of the Day: Salsa (sauce)

The word salsa (feminine, plural: salse) in Italian is pretty easy to remember: just imagine yourself dancing to Salsa music while shaking a bottle of sauce! 😉 It can trace its origin back to the Latin word salsus which means salty. Below are some of the most popular sauces you’ll find in Italy: Sai mica …

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Italian Word of the Day: Squalo (shark)

The word for shark in Italian is squalo (masculine, plural: squali) – not to be confused with the adjective squallido which means run-down or sleazy! Like great deal of Italian words, it finds its origins in Latin (squalus). Because squalo begins with s + consonant, it takes the indefinite article uno instead of un (a …

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Italian Word of the Day: Morbido (soft)

The Italian word morbido may look and sound a lot like the English word morbid but don’t be fooled: these two terms are actually false friends! The correct translation for morbido is soft whereas morbid is morboso. What’s interesting is that morbido and morbid can both be traced back to the same Latin root morbus …

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Italian Word of the Day: Buongustaio (gourmet / foodie)

A connoisseur of good food is known as a buongustaio in Italian. It is made up of the following three parts: buon (good) + gustare (to taste / savour) + aio (a suffix used to form agent nouns) Buongustaio is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Unlike a mangione (a …

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