Italian Word of the Day: Barare (to cheat)

Nobody likes a cheater, but they exist in every game, no matter what you play. In Italian, the verb for to cheat at a game, sport or exam is barare.

Barare is an intransitive verb that comes from baro, meaning a card sharp (or card shark)—someone who cheats at cards to win money.

According to Una Parola al Giorno, the term baro originally meant a simpleton in Classical Latin. However, over time, it acquired a more military connotation, referring to someone suited for combat. Eventually, its meaning evolved to specifically describe a card shark. Interestingly, baro shares the same etymological roots as the English word baron (or barone in Italian)!

It’s also a regular -ARE verb that follows the standard conjugation pattern in the present tense:

• io baro = I cheat
• tu bari = you cheat (sing. informal)
• lui bara = he cheats
• lei bara = she cheats
• Lei bara = you cheat (sing. formal)
• noi bariamo = we cheat
• voi barate = you cheat (plural)
• loro barano = they cheat

The progressive tense is stare + barando (e.g. sto barando = I am cheating), while the passato prossimo (the equivalent of the English present perfect) is barato (e.g. ho barato = I have cheated).

To say that someone cheats at something, you need to use the preposition a. For example, to cheat at poker translates to barare a poker.

By extension, barare may be used to describe someone who lies or lacks honesty, in which case the prepositions in, su and con are more commonly used. For example:

• barare in amore = to cheat (on someone)
• barare sul nome = to lie about one’s name
• barare sulla propria età = to lie about one’s age
• barare sul peso = to lie about one’s weight
• barare con se stesso = to cheat oneself

We’ve already come across the word baro for cheater, but you might also hear imbroglione and truffatore, particularly when referring to someone who cheats or deceives in a more general sense, beyond just games or sports. These terms, however, don’t apply to someone who cheats on their partner. For that situation, you’d use infedele (unfaithful) or traditore (traitor) for a man, and traditrice for a woman. In fact, the verb tradire (to betray) is more common to talk about cheating on someone.

Heather Broster

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.