Do you have a quick-tempered person in your life? Or perhaps you are the irascible one? In either case, it’s worth learning the Italian adjective irascibile, which describes a person’s tendency to be easily angered.
irascibile
quick-tempered / irascible
The adjective irascible in English certainly hasn’t fallen out of use, but it is definitely used far less than its Italian counterpart, which can be heard in everyday conversation. In English, our first instinct would probably be to use the words quick-tempered or hot-tempered.
As you probably know by now, adjectives in Italian always agree with the noun they describe, which means they must match in gender and number. Irascibile ends in -e, so we don’t need to worry about making it masculine or feminine because it’s the same for both. However, in the plural, irascibile becomes irascibili, with an -i on the end.
- l’uomo irascibile = the quick-tempered man
- la donna irascibile = the quick-tempered woman
- i ragazzi irascibili = the quick-tempered boys
- le ragazze irascibili = the quick-tempered girls
If you try to break down irascibile in the same way you might take apart adjectives like …
- irrazionale (irrational) – ir + razionale
- irresistibile (irresistible) – ir + resistibile
- irrilevante (irrelevant) – ir + rilevante
… you’ll probably end up asking yourself what on earth ascibile means. However, the truth is that the ir- in irascibile isn’t a prefix at all. Rather, it comes from the Latin noun ira, meaning anger or rage. (And, in case you were wondering, the noun ira also exists in Italian.) It is the same ira we see in English words such as irate and ire. (Source: Merriam Webster)
Maria ha un carattere irascibile. È difficile andare d’accordo con lei.
Maria has an irascible character. It’s difficult to get along with her.
There are a few possible synonyms for irascibile if you want to get even more creative with your speech:
- arrabbiato = the default term for angry
- irritabile = irritable (a milder form of irascibile)
- litigioso = contentious / adversarial (someone who is always looking for a fight)
- rissoso = quarrelsome / hot-headed
- iroso = basically the same as irascibile
- incazzato = a rude and informal way of saying you’re angry, similar to “pissed off”
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
