Italian Word of the Day: Matita (pencil)

A tool that we use far less today due to the advent of the computer and keyboard is the humble pencil, known as a matita in Italian.

The word derives from the Latin lapis haematites, which refers to the hematite stone or pietra di ematite in Italian. Hematite ore was historically used for writing, drawing and decoration because of its reddish colour, produced by its high iron content.

Matita is a feminine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles:

• la matita = the pencil
• una matita = a pencil
• le matite = the pencils
• delle matite = some pencils

When you sharpen a pencil with a temperino (sharpener), you create a fine punta (point) that makes writing much easier. Along with that, you’ll also produce trucioli di matita (pencil shavings) and little bits of grafite (graphite)—things I admit I used to collect in my astuccio (pencil case) as a kid. (Oh, the simple things that entertained us before smartphones and tablets!) Making a sbaglio (mistake) with a pencil is no big deal as long as you have a gomma (eraser), but if you’re using its unforgiving sibling—la penna (the pen)—that’s a different story!

The advantage of a matita over a penna is that the former can be cancellata (erased). However, it also tends to be messier, leaving macchie (smudges) on the page if you aren’t careful.

Here are a few verbs you’ll often see used with matita:

• temperare la matita = to sharpen a pencil
• scrivere con la matita = to write with a pencil / to pencil (in)
• rompere la matita = to break a pencil
• disegnare con la matita = to draw with a pencil
• ombreggiare con la matita = to shade with a pencil

If you want to say that you are writing something in pencil or with a pencil, you can use the expressions a matita or con la matita.

A coloured pencil or pencil crayon is known as either a matita colorata or a pastello, while a watercolour pencil is called a pastello acquarellabile or matita acquarellabile. In the world of make-up, many people use la matita per le sopracciglia (eyebrow pencil), la matita per le labbra (lip liner), and la matita per gli occhi (eyeliner) to make themselves appear more beautiful.

One of my favourite kinds of pencils is la matita portamine or il portamine, a mechanical pencil whose mina (lead) can be replaced as long as the pencil works.

According to the Devoto-Oli dictionary, matita is also a metonym for a cartoonist, especially of humorous or satirical drawings.

Heather Broster

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.