Today is Arbor Day (La Festa degli Alberi), a holiday dedicated to planting trees, so what better word to choose as ‘word of the day’ than albero (masculine, plural: alberi). It comes from the Latin arbor of the same meaning. Some verbs that often appear alongside albero include: L’Etiopia ha annunciato di aver piantato più …
The Italian word guarigione (feminine, plural: guarigioni), which comes from the verb guarire (to recover / to heal), describes the return to a normal state of health following an illness or injury. It is usually translated as recovery but can also mean curing or healing. You can describe a person’s recovery in a number of …
The adjective furbo in Italian is used to describe a person who is good at avoiding deception and traps, getting out of dangerous situations, or working a situation to his or her advantage. In English, you could describe such a person as cunning / sly / crafty if you are being critical of them, or …
The word for a mat or coaster that you put under cups, mugs, bottles and glasses to avoid staining or wetting a surface is sottobicchiere (masculine, plural: sottobicchieri) in Italian. It is the combination of two words: sotto meaning under or underneath and bicchiere meaning drinking glass. Sottobicchieri can be made of various materials, including: …
The adjective stonato comes from the verb stonare which means to sing / play out of tune. The feminine equivalent is stonata and their respective plurals are stonati and stonate. Stonato can be used to describe a naturally tone-deaf person, a professional singer whose voice is off-key or flat for some reason, or a musical …
Uffa is an onomatopoeic interjection in Italian that is supposed to resemble the sound of a person sighing, grumbling or huffing and puffing (sbuffare) with annoyance. People use it when they are irritated by something and want to get their frustration off their chest by letting out a breathy verbalisation. Learn with our video Some …