The polite way to refer to man in Italian is signore. It differs from uomo in that the latter is less polite and is used to generically refer to a human being or mankind. signore It should come as little surprise that signore is a masculine noun, and therefore, it is used with the following …
Prezzo is a masculine noun that means price or cost in English. It is derived from the Latin pretium meaning value or reward. prezzo price Il venditore mi ha fatto un buon prezzo per questo divano. The seller gave me a good price for this couch. Quanto costa questo libro? Non vedo il prezzo. How much is this …
In English, we have a remarkable abundance of terms to describe someone who behaves obsequiously towards someone in order to gain favour: bootlicker, sycophant, crawler, brown-nose, suck-up, toady, pufferfish and a few other vulgar options I won’t mention here! leccapiedi bootlicker /lec·ca·piè·di/ – [lekkaˈpjɛdi] Italian, too, has its own range of terms, but the one …
Some of you might think this is an unusual choice for the word of the day, but based on recent conversations in our Facebook group, it’s also one of your favourites! Scolapasta, which is made up of two words – the verb scolare (to drain or to strain) and the noun pasta – literally means …
Wherever there are fields with growing crops and birds in the vicinity, you will typically come across a scarecrow, known as spaventapasseri in Italian. They’ve long been used to dissuade these cunning winged gluttons from destroying the harvest. spaventapasseri scarecrow Spaventapasseri is made up of two parts: the verb spaventare (to scare) and passeri, the …
Cetriolo is the standard Italian word for cucumber. Is is derived from the Vulgar Latin citriòlum, and in turn from citrium, which comes from citrus (meaning “citron”). cetriolo cucumber Being a masculine noun, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Ricordati di prendere un po’ di cetrioli quando vai al supermercato. Remember to buy …