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) …
Today’s word of the day is fiuto, which comes from the verb fiutare meaning to to smell / to sniff. fiuto sense of smell / instinct Fiuto is a masculine noun, so it takes the following definite and indefinite articles. il fiutoun fiuto i fiutidei fiuti Fiuto is most frequently used to talk about an …
Tea will forever be my preferred hot drink, whether I’m at home, in a coffee shop, or on the road travelling. And if someone serves me a bad cuppa in the morning – well – that’s enough to put me in a bad mood for the rest of my day! Italians have the same affinity …
Semaforo, also known as a semaforo stradale, is the word for a traffic light in Italian. It is from the French ‘sémaphore’, which was formed irregularly from the Greek sēma ‘sign’ and –phoros ‘bearing’. If you feel this word looks familiar, that’s because it shares the same origin as the English word semaphore, a system …
A word that should be very easy for English speakers to remember is lampada, which means lamp in Italian. Its origin can be traced back to the Latin lampas -ădis, which in turn comes from the Greek lampás -ádos, a derivative of lámpō meaning ‘to shine’. Lampada is a feminine noun, so it takes the …
Cooking dinner is one of the most labour-intensive chores of the day, especially when you’re tired and your children insist on performing acrobatics between your legs as you try to juggle the pots and pans on the stove. (And yes, I am talking from experience!) This is why many of us resort to take-away food, …