Italian Word of the Day: Cervellotico (bizarre / illogical)

The adjective cervellotico in Italian translates in numerous ways including bizarre, illogical, irrational or odd. It can describe bizarre people, as well as things that don’t correspond to the truth or aren’t founded on reason.

/cer·vel·lò·ti·co/
italian word cervellotico

Because it is an adjective, the ending changes according to the gender and/or plurality of the subject. For example:

Masculine

  • un racconto cervellotico (a bizarre tale)
  • dei ragionamenti cervellotici (bizarre ways of thinking)
  • un uomo cervellotico (a bizarre man)

Feminine

  • un’ipotesi cervellotica (a bizarre hypothesis)
  • delle idee cervellotiche (bizarre ideas)
  • una donna cervellotica (a bizarre woman)

Si è comportato in modo cervellotico.

He behaved in a bizarre way.


Strange engineer sleeping on devices in laboratory. Electrical testing tools on background
Un ingegnere un po’ cervellotico = A somewhat bizarre engineer

According to Sapere.it, it is thought to be a cross between the words cervello, which means brain, and zotico, which means crude or uncouth.

Some possible synonyms for this word in Italian include bislacco, strambo, bizzarro, strano and stravagante. It also forms the basis of the adverb cervelloticamente meaning bizarrely or oddly.


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