Soon after our son turned six months old, he went from being a very sociable baby who would flash his gummy smile at pretty much anyone in his immediate vicinity to being extremely shy and appiccicoso, which is the Italian word for clingy / clinging (when figuratively talking about a person) or sticky (when talking …
The word for library in Italian is biblioteca (feminine, plural: biblioteche). Its origin can be traced back to the ancient Greek word βιβλιοθήκη which is a combination of βιβλίον (biblion meaning book) and -θήκη (-theke meaning box or chest). Some different kinds of biblioteche include: Mia cugina lavora in biblioteca da cinque anni. My cousin …
The Italian word for a person one does not know or with whom one is not familiar is sconosciuto if you are talking about a man or sconosciuta for a woman. It is the past participle of sconoscere, a relatively uncommon verb meaning to disown or not want to recognise. The respective plurals are sconosciuti …
The Italian adjective mite (plural: miti), which comes from the Latin mitis of the same meaning, has a number of English translations but in every case, it describes something that lacks severity or harshness. The first translation, mild or temperate, is mostly used to talk about the climate, weather or air. Il Regno Unito ha …
The word for a person who habitually tells lies is bugiardo in Italian. The feminine form is bugiarda whereas the plural forms are bugiardi and bugiarde respectively. It is a combination of the now-obsolete verb bugiare (to lie) and the suffix -ardo. (Note that the standard verb for to lie is mentire in modern Italian.) …
The original meaning of the word cucciolo (plural: cuccioli) in Italian was puppy but it has since expanded to include any type of baby animal. If you want to specify which kind of baby animal you are talking about, simply add the preposition di (of) plus the name of the animal after cucciolo. For example: …