Italian word of the day
Il latte
The milk
It is a masculine uncountable noun, so it has no plural form: il latte (definite, the milk), del latte (indefinite, some milk).
Examples
Nella bottiglia è rimasta una piccola quantità di latte.
There’s a tiny amount of milk left in the bottle.
Potrei avere un bicchiere di latte, per favore?
May I have a glass of milk, please?
Elena beve latte ogni mattina.
Elena drinks milk every morning.
Latte macchiato is what you have to ask for to get a latte in an Italian café! If you ask for a plain latte, you will probably get… a glass of milk. Latte macchiato literally means “stained milk”.
Related words
The latte di mucca, literally “milk of cow”, is also commonly called latte vaccino, from the Latin vacca, “cow”. This is where the English word vaccine comes from!
Latte di mucca
Cow milk
Latte vaccino
Cow milk
Esistono molte alternative al latte vaccino, come il latte di capra, il latte di mandorla e il latte di cocco.
There are many alternatives to cow milk, such as goat milk, almond milk and coconut milk.
Another common (and delicious) type of milk in Italy is latte di bufala, which is used to make mozzarella di bufala. Try it on your pizza!
Latte di bufala
Buffalo milk
Preferisco il latte di bufala a quello di mucca.
I prefer buffalo milk to cow milk.
Other types of milk in Italian based on the animal are:
Latte di capra
Goat milk
Latte d’asina
Donkey milk
Latte di pecora
Sheep milk
For example, you can say…
Di cosa sa il latte di capra?
What does goat milk taste like?
Il pecorino è un derivato del latte di pecora.
Pecorino cheese is made from sheep’s milk.
If you are a vegetarian, you can drink latte di soia, latte di mandorle or the sweet and savory latte di cocco!
Latte di soia
Soy milk
Il latte di soia è un ottimo sostituto del latte vaccino.
Soy milk is a great substitute for cow’s milk.
Latte di mandorle
Almond milk
Sara ha messo un po’ di latte di mandorle nel caffè.
Sara put some almond milk in her coffee.
Latte di cocco
Coconut milk
Hai mai assaggiato il latte di cocco? È dolce.
Have you ever tasted coconut milk? It’s sweet.
There are two common types of milk that you can find in Italian supermarkets:
Latte intero
Whole milk
Il latte intero mi crea problemi allo stomaco.
Whole milk upsets my stomach.
Latte scremato
Skimmed milk
Il latte scremato ha meno calorie di quello intero.
Skimmed milk has fewer calories than whole milk.
Latte parzialmente scremato
Partially skimmed milk
Other less common, but still widely used, types of milk in Italian are:
Latte a lunga conservazione
Long-life milk
Latte UHT
UHT milk
Latte in polvere
Milk powder
Latte artificiale
Infant formula
Literally: Artificial milk
Latte arricchito con vitamine
Vitamin-enriched milk
A cosa serve il latte in polvere?
What is milk powder used for?
Compriamo sempre latte a lunga conservazione.
We always buy long-life milk.
Freshly milked milk is called latte appena munto or latte fresco di mungitura, where mungere means “to milk”.
Latte appena munto
Freshly milked milk
If you forget to put it in the fridge and the milk goes bad, you can use the verbs andare a male, “to go bad”, or scadere, “to expire”.
Latte andato a male
Spoiled milk
Latte scaduto
Expired milk
Il latte scaduto può causare problemi all’intestino.
Expired milk can cause intestinal problems.
Breast milk is called latte materno, literally “maternal milk”.
Latte materno
Breast milk
Mio figlio non beve abbastanza latte materno.
My son doesn’t drink enough breast milk.
From latte comes the adjective latteo, “milky”. In fact, our galaxy, the Milky Way, is translated into Italian as…
La Via Lattea
The Milky Way
La nostra galassia si chiama Via Lattea.
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
To milk, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, translates to mungere in Italian.
Mungere
To milk
Hai mai munto una mucca?
Have you ever milked a cow?
Raw milk, il latte crudo, is pasteurized, pastorizzato, from pastorizzare, to kill off any pathogen that might harm us.
Pastorizzare
To pasteurize
Il latte viene pastorizzato per evitare contaminazioni.
Milk is pasteurized to prevent contamination.
And of course, milk can be skimmed, scremato, from the verb scremare, “to skim”.
Scremare
To skim
Milk itself can curdle, cagliarsi.
Cagliare il latte
To curdle milk
Expressions
Let’s wrap up our lesson on the meaning of latte in Italian with a few expressions and sayings featuring this word.
Dente da latte literally translates to milk tooth.
Il dente da latte
The milk tooth
Quando cominciano a cadere i denti da latte?
When do milk teeth start to fall out?
Dairy products like…
- il burro (the butter)
- il formaggio (the cheese)
- la panna (the cream)
- lo yogurt (the yogurt)
are called latticini.
I latticini
The dairy products
Now for a couple of sayings featuring latte in Italian:
Piangere sul latte versato
To cry over spilled milk
Avere ancora il latte alla bocca
To be young and naïve
While piangere sul latte versato can be literally translated into English, avere ancora il latte alla bocca literally means “to still have milk on your mouth” and it’s used to address someone who is still young and naïve about life.
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