The Italian word for pregnant is incinta (feminine, plural: incinte). It derives from the Medieval Latin term incincta.
Below are a few verbs you’ll frequently see paired with incinta:
- essere incinta = to be pregnant
- rimanere incinta = to get pregnant
- restare incinta = to get pregnant
- mettere incinta = to impregnate, to get (someone) pregnant
Mia moglie è incinta di quattro mesi.
My wife is four months pregnant.
A pregnant woman can be called una donna incinta, una gestante or more informally, una futura mamma.
A less common synonym of incinta in reference to women is gravida. Another synonym is pregna which, despite closely resembling the English word pregnant, almost exclusively refers to female animals. Below are a few other metaphorical synonyms you might hear in conversation:
- aspettare un figlio = to expect a child
- essere in stato interessante = literally: to be in an interesting state
- essere in dolce attesa = literally: to be in sweet expectation
A well-known proverb in Italian is la mamma dei cretini è sempre incinta which literally translates as the mother of idiots is always pregnant. The equivalent English expression is stupidity breeds stupidity.
Did you know that…?
The adjective incinta is primarily used in its feminine form because it refers to a pregnant woman. The masculine equivalent incinto can however be used in an imaginary context or as a joke. (e.g. Pietro aveva mangiato così tanto che sembrava incinto. = Pietro ate so much that he looked pregnant.)
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.
