One of my favourite Italian words actually refers to a rather banal household object that we use multiple times throughout the day: the humble rubinetto, which is known as a tap in the UK, a faucet in the US, or a spigot in technical terms. rubinetto tap / faucet The etymology of this word is …
Today we are going to be looking at a useful everyday word that can be classified as both an adjective and a noun: piatto. piatto flat / plate / dish ‘Piatto’ the adjective Used as an adjective, this word translates to flat or level. It is derived from the Latin *plattum, which in turn comes …
My son is currently obsessed with trucks of all sorts, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of his favourite words in Italian is guasto. It is used when something, such as a machine or vehicle, stops working as it should. guasto broken / faulty Guasto is the past participle of the verb …
The soft curly hair forming the coat of a sheep, goat or camel is known as wool in English, or lana in Italian. lana wool Lana, which is a feminine noun, is derived from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. Below are its definite and indefinite articles: The expression di lana (of wool) is …
My son, during his swimming lessons, is happy to do anything the teacher tells him to do except dive into the water. The word for a dive or plunge is tuffo in Italian. tuffo dive / plunge / dip Tuffo is derived from the verb tuffare (to plunge / immerse), which interestingly enough, comes not …
Marachella is a lovely-sounding Italian word that denotes a forbidden action, carried out in secret, that can be considered forgivable once discovered. In English, we can translate this word as mischief, prank or trick depending on the context. marachella mischief / prank / trick Marachella is a feminine noun, so it takes the following definite and …