Today’s word of the day is part of our Italian Easter Word series. Each day during the week leading up to Easter, we’ll post a word that is related to this special time of year. Enjoy! 🐰
For Christians, Easter is the feast of rebirth and the pulcino (masculine, plural: pulcini), the Italian word for chick, represents the birth of new life.
Learn with our video
Il pulcino ha fatto un buco nel guscio d’uovo.
The chick made a hole in the eggshell.
In its literal sense, pulcino refers to the offspring of a chicken but figuratively, it can also be a cute nickname for a child.
La mamma tiene il suo pulcino in braccio.
The mother holds her child in her arms.
It is also the term for a child between 8 and 10 or 11 years of age who is part of a junior soccer team.
Expressions featuring ‘pulcino’
Essere bagnato come un pulcino
Literal translation: to be as wet as a chick
English meaning: to be soaking wet
Essere come un pulcino nella stoppa
Literal translation: to be like a chick in the tow
English meaning: to be clumsy or uncomfortable, not knowing how to cope or unable to get out of a situation. Used toward young and inexperienced people who struggle when dealing with a new experience.
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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.
