Italian Word of the Day: Arruffato (messy / ruffled / matted)

Last Christmas, I bought my son three adorable little stuffed owls with the softest fur imaginable. Fast-forward to July, and they all looked like something the cat dragged in. In Italian, the word arruffato perfectly describes the disheveled, ruffled, tangled or matted state of hair or fur, whether it’s on a person, animal, or well-loved …

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Italian Word of the Day: Rossetto (lipstick)

Italian word "rossetto"

In Italian, the name for the cosmetic that many women put on their lips (le labbra) in order to look more glamorous is rossetto (lipstick). rossetto lipstick Rossetto is the diminutive form of the colour rosso, which means red, so the literal translation is “little red.” The suffix is -etto, which can also be seen …

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Italian Word of the Day: Fuso (melted / exhausted)

The other day, I accidentally left a plastic jug on the hot stove, and as you can imagine, it melted onto the burner within minutes. Although cleaning up the mess was quite a hassle, it did inspire me to write about the adjective fuso, which translates to melted, molten or liquefied. fuso melted / molten …

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Italian Word of the Day: Sguardo (look / gaze)

Italian word "sguardo"

One of the most common words used to refer to a person’s look, gaze or glance in Italian is sguardo. sguardo gaze / look Sguardo comes from the archaic verb sguardare, which in turn is derived from guardare with the addition of the s- prefix. It is a masculine noun but given that it begins …

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Italian Word of the Day: Lingua (tongue / language)

Today, we’re delving into a word that lies at the heart of human communication. Whether referring to the physical organ itself (tongue) or the words it generates through articulation (language), la lingua is indispensable for expressing and exchanging our thoughts effectively! lingua tongue / language Before we begin, let’s take a quick look at its …

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Italian Word of the Day: Palestra (gym / gymnasium)

Italian word "palestra"

Because I’ll be turning 40 at the beginning of next year, I recently started going to the gym – or palestra in Italian – five days a week. Call it my crisi di mezza età (mid-life crisis), but I feel so much better for it. I have more energia (energy) to chase around my four-year-old, …

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