• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Daily Italian Words

Italian words and phrases for everyday use!

  • Start here!
  • Italian Words & Phrases
  • Blog
    • Comparisons
    • Improve your Italian with Films
    • Web Stories
  • Subscribe!
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Privacy & Cookie Policy

Italian Phase: Fa un freddo cane! (It’s freezing cold!)

December 27, 2020 By Heather Broster Go to Comments

Italian Phase: Fa un freddo cane! (It’s freezing cold!)

Now that we’re well and truly into the depths of winter (inverno), we thought we’d share an idiomatic phrase that is widely used in spoken Italian on freezing cold days.

Fa un freddo cane!

It’s freezing cold!
(Literal translation: It’s dog cold! or It makes a cold dog!)


It is made up of the following components:

  • fa >> The third person present singular of the verb fare (to do / make).
  • un >> the masculine indefinite article; the equivalent of a or an in English
  • freddo >> The word for cold in Italian.
  • cane >> The word for dog in Italian.
Dog-sledding with huskies
Fa un freddo cane nell’Artico! = It’s freezing cold in the Arctic!

So, why is it Italians associate the bitter cold with man’s best friend instead of another animal with less desirable characteristics?

The most plausible origin of the expression has its roots in the now bygone practice of leaving the dog outside to guard the house, even in extreme temperatures. Although they were able to withstand the cold, the poor conditions in which they lived made them extremely aggressive towards any intruder who dared to approach the property.

A second possible origin is the way in which the Eskimo populations measured the cold. The colder it was outside, the more dogs they would allow indoors to warm the house with their body heat.

A final interpretation draws an association between the painful bite of a dog and the sensation of the bitter cold entering one’s bones.

Another variation on this is expression is fa un freddo da cani. It means exactly the same thing but cani (dogs) is the plural of cane.

Fa un freddo da cani!

It’s freezing cold!


Filed Under: Italian Phrase of the Week Tagged With: cane, cold, freddo

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter! (Subscribe to our newsletter!)

Do you want to receive an Italian word a day directly into your mailbox? All you have to do is to go to the subscription form and enter your email address. Your personal data won’t be recorded until the form has been submitted successfully. Thank you!

SUBSCRIBE!

Seguici su (Follow us on):

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

join the daily italian words group on facebook

Search for a word or phrase!

Database of Italian Words and Phrases

Footer

Seguici su (follow us on):

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Cerca sul sito / Search the website

Our blog

We love languages and we’d love to help you learn Italian! Find out more about us.

Copyright © 2019-2021 Mathieu Gasquet / Heather Broster