Italian word of the day
| Origin | From the Latin word pecŏra, “sheep” |
| Translation | Sheep |
| IPA pronunciation | /ˈpekora/ |
La pecora
The sheep
Different forms of pecora
Like most nouns in Italian, pecora has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
Una pecora
A sheep
Delle pecore
Some sheep
La pecora
The sheep
Le pecore
The sheep
Examples
Mattia non ha mai tosato una pecora.
Mattia has never sheared a sheep.
Lo zio di Tom alleva molte pecore.
Tom’s uncle has many sheep.
Paola decise di avviare un allevamento di pecore.
Paola decided to start a sheep farm.
Montone
The male sheep in Italian is called montone, ram, and it’s a masculine noun.
Un montone
A ram
Dei montoni
Some rams
Il montone
The ram
I montoni
The rams
Il montone
The ram, male sheep
Un maschio adulto di pecora è chiamato montone.
An adult male sheep is called a ram.
Agnello
Agnello is the Italian translation for lamb. It is a masculine word. When people want to emphasize how cute and innocent a baby lamb or a person looks, they use the expression essere (come) un agnellino, literally meaning to be (like) a little lamb.
L’agnello
The lamb
L’agnellino
The little lamb
Literally: Little lamb
Essere come un agnellino
To be a sweetheart, to be very innocent and gentle
Literally: To be like a little lamb
Per Pasqua si mangia l’agnello arrosto.
Roast lamb is eaten for Easter.
L’agnello seguì Mary a scuola.
The lamb followed Mary to school.
Marco è davvero un agnellino, non farebbe male a una mosca.
Marco is really a sweetheart; he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Related words
Wool, la lana, is obtained from the shearing (la tosatura) of the sheep.
La lana
Wool
La tosatura
The shearing
Tosatura comes from the verb tosare, meaning to shear.
Tosare
To shear
Queste muffole in lana d’alpaca sono morbide e calde.
These alpaca wool mittens are soft and warm.
La mia maglia è di lana.
My shirt is made of wool.
Non ho mai tosato una pecora.
I have never shorn a sheep.
Sheep move in a flock, gregge. It is a masculine noun.
Il gregge
The flock
You can also say il gregge di pecore, the flock of sheep.
Queste nuvole bianche mi ricordano un gregge di pecore.
These white clouds remind me of a flock of sheep.
Un gregge di pecore pascolava nei campi.
A flock of sheep was grazing in the fields.
The correct spelling is GREGGE, not GREGGIE!
Contrary to what you might infer from the singular noun gregge, which is masculine, the plural form of gregge is actually feminine. It’s le greggi, not i greggi.
Gregge also appears in the expression immunità di gregge, herd immunity.
L’immunità di gregge
Herd immunity
La percentuale di persone che devono avere gli anticorpi per garantire l’immunità di gregge varia da malattia a malattia.
The percentage of people who must have antibodies in order to provide herd immunity varies from disease to disease.
Pastore is how you translate shepherd in Italian.
Il pastore
The shepherd
Il pastore condusse le pecore nella valle.
The shepherd herded the sheep through the valley.
I pastori condussero le greggi di pecore sulla montagna.
The shepherds led the flocks of sheep up to the mountain.
Herding dogs are called cani da pastore, from the singular cane da pastore, literally shepherd dog.
Il cane da pastore
The herding dog
I border collie sono ottimi cani da pastore.
Border collies are excellent herding dogs.
A sheep in Italian can most often belare, bleat. The noun belato, bleating, is derived from this verb.
Belare
To bleat
La pecora sta belando.
The sheep is bleating.
Il belato
The bleating
A sheep in Italian can also pascolare, which means to graze.
Pascolare
To graze
Le pecore stavano pascolando nel prato.
The sheep were grazing in the meadow.
You can also milk a sheep, mungere una pecora, if you want milk. Sheep milk is called latte di pecora.
Mungere
To milk
Il latte di pecora
Sheep milk
Questo formaggio è prodotto con latte di pecora.
This cheese is made with sheep’s milk.
Expressions
Sheep are a symbol of being meek, so you will often hear the expression essere una pecora, to be a sheep, to address someone who lacks courage.
Essere una pecora
To be a sheep
If you have trouble falling asleep, you can try counting sheep, contare le pecore.
Contare le pecore
To count sheep
Family members who are considered a disgrace to the family tree are called pecore nere, from the singular pecora nera. The expression essere una pecora nera, to be a black sheep, is used to refer to people who are not well regarded by other family members.
Essere una pecora nera
To be a black sheep
Sono la pecora nera della famiglia.
I’m the black sheep of the family.
If someone loses their bearings and doesn’t know what to do in life and needs advice, you can use the expression essere una pecorella smarrita, which means to to be a lost little sheep.
Essere una pecorella smarrita
To be a lost sheep
I’ll wrap up this lesson with a very common saying in Italian:
Meglio vivere un giorno da leone, che cento anni da pecora
Better to be a leader than a follower
Literally: Better a day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep
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