Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | Ice |
| Origin | From the Latin word glacies, “ice” |
It is a masculine uncountable noun, so it uses the article il (definite, the ice).
You will only find it in its definite plural form (i ghiacci) to talk about all the ice on the planet, as in…
| I ghiacci si stanno sciogliendo a causa del cambiamento climatico. | The ice is melting because of climate change. |
Examples
| È uscito il sole e il ghiaccio si è sciolto. | The sun came out and the ice melted. |
| I ghiacciai, i ghiacci terrestri e gli iceberg sono fatti di acqua dolce. | Glaciers, land ice, and icebergs are made of fresh water. |
| Il Canada è la madrepatria dell’hockey su ghiaccio. | Canada is the motherland of ice hockey. |
| Perché il ghiaccio galleggia? | Why does ice float? |
Related words
Make sure you never translate ice cream as “crema ghiaccio”, because you can’t translate it literally!
The word for ice cream in Italian is gelato.
| Il gelato | Ice cream |
For example, you can say…
| I bambini vogliono un po’ di gelato. | The children want some ice cream. |
| Mi dia tre gelati, per favore. | Give me three ice creams, please. |
Ice cubes, however, can be translated literally as cubetti di ghiaccio (well, not too literally, since cubetti means “small cubes”, from cubo).
| Il cubetto di ghiaccio | The ice cube |
For example, you can say…
| Potrebbe mettere dei cubetti di ghiaccio nel mio bicchiere? | Could you put some ice cubes in my glass? |
Expressions
There are a number of popular idiomatic expressions featuring the word for ice in Italian. Among these are:
| Rompere il ghiaccio | To break the ice |
| Essere un blocco di ghiaccio | To be a block of ice |
| Cuore di ghiaccio | Heart of ice |
| Ghiaccio secco | Dry ice |
For example, you can say…
| La riunione è iniziata con alcune chiacchiere generali per rompere il ghiaccio. | The meeting began with some general chitchat to break the ice. | |
| Ho atteso l’autobus per mezz’ora. Stavo per diventare un blocco di ghiaccio! | I waited half an hour for the bus. I was about to become a block of ice! |
More free Italian resources
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