The word for bee in Italian is ape (feminine, plural: api). It comes from the Latin apis of the same meaning. Honeybees (api domestiche or api comuni) live in beehives (alveari) or colonies (colonie) which may consist of as few as 20,000 or more than 100,000 bees. The roles in the hive are as follows: …
One of the most common terms for someone who dislikes hard work, and consequently limits himself to doing only what is strictly necessary is scansafatiche. In English, some of the closest translations would be lazybones, idler and slacker to name a few. It is formed of two parts: the verb scansare (to avoid, dodge) and …
In celebration of Thanksgiving, we’ve chosen ringraziamento (masculine, plural: ringraziamenti) as today’s Italian word of the day. Formed of the verb ringraziare (to thank) and the suffix -mento, it translates as thanks / thank-you, thanksgiving or gratitude. Below are some useful verbs you’ll often see paired with ringraziamento: fare i (propri) ringraziamenti = to thank, …
Infradito is a type of summer shoe in leather, rubber, straw or plastic, in which the sole is secured to the foot by a strip (called a toe post) that passes between the big toe and the second toe. In English, we call these shoes flip-flops, thong sandals or toe-post sandals depending on the style. …
Do you know someone who can talk the hind legs off a donkey? If so, you’ll definitely be keen to learn today’s word of the day! Chiacchierone is what you would call a very talkative man, with the best English translation being chatterbox or talker. The feminine and plural equivalents are as follows: chiacchierona = …
Pupazzo (masculine, plural: pupazzi) is the Italian word for any model or toy that represents the form of a person or animal. Puppet is just one possible translation but stuffed toys, dummies, figurines, and dolls may also be classified as pupazzi. The word is a combination of the term pupo (another word for puppet and, …