Lumaca is the name in Italian for all terrestrial (and sometimes marine) pulmonate gastropods that are either devoid of a shell, or carry a shell that isn’t visible to the naked eye. The English word for these creatures is slug. It is a feminine noun whose plural form is lumache, and takes the following definite …
The word capatina in Italian means a quick or flying visit. It is the diminutive form of capata (capata + -ina), which means exactly the same thing but, for some reason, isn’t used with the same frequency as capatina. capatina Because it is a feminine noun, capatina takes the following definite and indefinite articles: la …
The Italian term sasso is fairly comprehensive in that it can be used to denote anything rock-like, from the smallest pebbles and stones to rocks, boulders, and even larger masses. In fact, it can even refer to rock faces and mountains, especially in toponyms such as Gran Sasso d’Italia, a massif in the Apennine Mountains …
Bancomat is the commercial name of the electronic system that allows bank customers to make withdrawals and purchases, and perform other accounting operations from ATMs. However, in everyday speech, you will commonly hear it used to denote both: It is the compilation of the words banco (in the sense of banca ‘bank’) and mat, an …
The word for chin in Italian is mento. It derives from the Latin mentum of the same meaning. Being a masculine noun, mento takes the following definite and indefinite articles: il mentothe chinun mentoa chin i mentithe chinsdei menti(some) chins Mi sono svegliato con un brufolo enorme sul mento! I woke up with a huge …
The word for an hourglass or egg timer in Italian is clessidra. It derives from the Latin clepsydra which in turn comes from the Greek klepsýdra (water clock). Clessidra is a feminine noun and takes the following articles: Hourglasses were commonly used by ancient people to measure il passaggio del tempo (the passage of time) …