The word for a mat or coaster that you put under cups, mugs, bottles and glasses to avoid staining or wetting a surface is sottobicchiere (masculine, plural: sottobicchieri) in Italian.
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It is the combination of two words: sotto meaning under or underneath and bicchiere meaning drinking glass.
Sottobicchieri can be made of various materials, including:
- vetro = glass
- metallo = metal
- legno = wood
- plastica = plastic
- gomma = rubber
- ardesia = slate
- ceramica = ceramic
- feltro = felt
- pelle = leather
- stoffa = fabric
- bambù = bamboo
- pietra = stone
Usate i sottobicchieri per favore. Non voglio vedere macchie sul tavolo!
Use the coasters please. I don’t want to see stains on the table!
When talking about a spill mat or bar runner found on bar or pub counters in particular, you’ll hear the term tappetino da banco / da bancone. A tappetino da tavola is the mat you put under your plate, and a tappetino del mouse is the mouse pad for computers.
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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.
