The word for sidewalk (US) or pavement (UK) in Italian is marciapiede. Derived from the French ‘marchepied’ (running board), it is the combination of two words: ‘marcher’ (to walk) and ‘pied’ (foot).
In Italian, it is composed of the verb marciare, which is a synonym of the more popular camminare (to walk), and piedi (feet).
Marciapiede is a masculine noun. The plural is marciapiedi.
il marciapiede
un marciapiede
i marciapiedi
dei marciapiedi
A few verbs you will see used alongside marciapiede include:
- camminare lungo il marciapiede = to walk along the sidewalk
- stare sul marciapiede = to stay on the sidewalk
- salire sul marciapiede = to step onto the sidewalk
- scendere dal marciapiede = to step off the sidewalk
- costeggiare il marciapiede = to run along the sidewalk
I pedoni devono camminare sul marciapiede, mentre le biciclette devono circolare sulla pista ciclabile (laddove presente) o sulla parte destra della carreggiata.
Pedestrians must walk on the sidewalk, while bikes must circulate on the cycle path (where present) or on the right side of the freeway.
If you see the word battere (to hit) used with marciapiede, it is always a reference to prostitutes walking the streets in search of clients. In fact, another word for a prostitute is donna da marciapiede (street-walker / street-girl).
When talking about train stations, marciapiede is also one way of saying platform. The other word, binario, is only used when the number of the platform is mentioned.
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.
