The word for crossroads in Italian is bivio (masculine, plural: bivi).
Like the English equivalent, bivio has both a literal and figurative meaning. In the literal sense, it refers to the place where two roads meet, whereas in the figurative sense, it denotes the point at which a crucial decision, which will have significant consequences, must be made.
Al prossimo bivio gira a destra.
Turn right at the next crossroads.
A few verbs that are often used with bivio in both the literal and figurative sense include:
- essere (di fronte) a un bivio = to be at / stand at a crossroads
- trovarsi a un bivio = to find oneself at a crossroads
- arrivare a un bivio = to arrive at a crossroads
Mi trovo a un bivio della mia vita e non so cosa fare.
I find myself a crossroads of my life and I don’t know what to do.
In addition to crossroads, bivio may also translate as fork in the road or junction.
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.
