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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Maleducato’

It's only polite to learn this word.

Italian word of the day: 'Maleducato'
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

“Maleducata!”

A voice resounded from the other side of the particularly crowded Roman tram I was riding, in the tone of righteous indignation that Italians have mastered like few others.

Thankfully the term wasn’t directed at me: maleducato (for a male) or maleducata (female) means ‘rude’ or ‘bad-mannered’.

As my fellow passengers squabbled loudly over whether someone had pushed someone else, and as I exchanged exasperated eye rolls with the woman next to me and breathed a private sigh of relief not be involved, I thought about just how damning a term maleducato is. 

It essentially means ‘badly brought up’, so it’s an implicit diss on your parents too. 

Se i bambini sono maleducati, la colpa è dei genitori.
If children have bad manners, it’s the parents’ fault.

In its most condemnatory form – the one used by the irate passenger on my tram – un/a maleducato/a means ‘a yob’ or ‘a lout’: you use it as an insult to imply that someone is categorically, irreversibly a rude person.

Sei proprio un maleducato!
You’re a real yob!

You can soften the tone slightly by telling someone they’re acting rude, rather than that they are rude. You say that with the construction fare il maleducato.

Ora stai facendo la maleducata.
Now you’re just being rude.

Dai, non fare il maleducato.
Come on, don’t be rude.

Of course, maleducato has an opposite we can all aspire to: educato, ‘polite’ or ‘well-mannered’. 

È una ragazza molto educata.
She’s a very polite girl.

And with that in mind, I made sure to say permesso (‘excuse me’) and grazie (‘thank you’) as I squeezed my way off that tram. 

See our Word of the Day archive here. Do you have a favourite Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

Make sure you don’t miss any of our Italian words and expressions of the day: download our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Italian Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

Member comments

  1. I’ve found that the opposite of “maleducato” is more often “beneducato” rather than just “educato “.

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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Rimorchiare’

Here's an Italian word you'll want to pick up.

Italian word of the day: 'Rimorchiare'

If you’ve ever studied for your foglio rosa (provisional driver’s licence) exam in Italy, you’re sure to have come across the word rimorchio (trailer).

Theory test T/F question: ‘The width of the trailer must never exceed that of the vehicle pulling it.’

Credo che dovremo noleggiare un rimorchio per trasportare tutta la merce.
I think we might need to rent a trailer to transport all the goods.

And rimorchiare, along with the more formal trainare, means to haul or tow.

La barca è stata rimorchiata a riva.
The boat was towed to shore.

But rimorchiare isn’t just used to talk about vehicles. It also means to pick or chat someone up, or hook up with them.

Sono usciti per rimorchiare.
They’ve gone out on the pull.

Se n’è appena andata con un tipo che ha rimorchiato.
She just left with some guy she picked up.

A rimorchiatore is a tugboat, but can also mean a player/persistent flirt, and rimorchione/a also describes someone who’s constantly chatting people up.

got talent nina GIF by Italia's Got Talent

In some parts of the country, meanwhile, you might hear someone described as a provolone – a big tryhard or wannabe player.

That’s a wordplay based on the reflexive verb provarci, meaning ‘to try it on with’, and the famous Italian cheese. 

È un gran provolone ma non riesce mai a rimorchiare.
He’s a real tryhard but he never manages to pull.

Do you have a favourite Italian word or expression you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

Don’t miss any of our Italian words and expressions of the day: download our app (available on Apple and Android) and then select the Italian Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

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