Evviva! is what Italians shout when they want to celebrate something such as a promotion at work or a big lottery win. Two equivalents in English are Hurray! (sometimes spelled Hooray! or Hurrah!) and Yay!
Evviva is a variation on the interjection Viva! preceded by the conjunction e (and).
Evviva, abbiamo raggiunto quota mille iscritti su YouTube!
Hurray, we’ve reached 1000 subscribers on YouTube!
When evviva is followed by a noun, it translates as hurray for (something) or long live (something).
Evviva gli sposi!
Long live the newlyweds!
If you are being critical of someone however, it can also take on an ironic or sarcastic significance. The following phrase, for example, would be directed at someone who brags too much.
Evviva la modestia!
So much for modesty!
When it isn’t used as an interjection, evviva can also function as an invariable masculine noun that means cheer, shout or hurrah. You’ll see it in both its singular and plural forms.
Il pubblico accolse il giocatore con evviva entusiastici.
The audience greeted the player with enthusiastic cheers.
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.
