The word for acorn in Italian is ghianda (feminine, plural: ghiande). The fruit of the oak tree (quercia), it has the appearance of a smooth oval nut with a rough cup-like hat called a cupule (cupola). Acorns make up the diet of a surprising range of animals including birds like ducks (papere) and pigeons (piccioni), …
Matto is one of many ways you can translate the word crazy into Italian. It is thought to come from the late Latin mattus, which means drunk, and later assumed the meaning of stupid before acquiring its current definition. Because matto is an adjective, the masculine singular ending –o changes to –a for the feminine …
Emozionato is one of those adjectives in Italian whose translation varies depending on the context in which it is used. However, in every case, it denotes a state of emotional upheaval, be it positive or negative. Used in a positive sense, it can translate as either excited or moved. For example: Luigi è molto emozionato …
The adverb carponi (also written as a carponi or the less common carpone) is how you would say on all fours or on one’s hands and knees in Italian. It is probably connected with the Latin carpere which means to swipe or to pilfer. Some common verbs you’ll see used with carponi include: camminare carponi …
If you happen to meet someone who simply doesn’t care about other people’s problems or the issues facing the world, they may be suffering from what is called menefreghismo in Italian (masculine, plural: menefreghismi). Sadly, there isn’t really a word-for-word translation for menefreghismo in English, which is a shame because we could definitely benefit from …
My son recently turned one, and as young toddlers go, he’s pretty fearless. However, he does have one archenemy: the dreaded aspirapolvere (vacuum cleaner / hoover)! Aspirapolvere is an invariable masculine noun, so it does not change in its plural form. It is composed of the verb aspirare (to suck / to inhale) and polvere …