A word we use a lot around our house is borraccia, which has a number of translations including water bottle, canteen, flask and thermos. Why? Because my three year old has the terrible habit of constantly misplacing his!
Borraccia is a feminine noun that comes from the Spanish borracha, meaning “leather jug”. It takes the following definite and indefinite articles:
- la borraccia = the water bottle
- le borracce = the water bottles
- una borraccia = a water bottle
- delle borracce = (some) water bottles
Note that the plural isn’t spelled borraccie* with an i but borracce. This is because the -cia ending is preceding by a consonant, not a vowel. If it were it preceded by a vowel, the ending would become -cie, as in the word for cherry: ciliegia – ciliegie.
La borraccia è una buona alternativa ecologica alle bottiglie di plastica monouso.
The water bottle is a good ecological alternative to disposable plastic bottles.
When talking about a receptacle for hot drinks, you will hear the term borraccia termica (insulated water bottle). However it is also quite common for Italians to use the term thermos, also spelled termos.
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.
