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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Zitto’

Be quiet and listen to this Italian word.

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

No one could ever accuse Italians of being quiet people. If you want to get their attention (or just give your ears a break), there are times when you’ll need to know what to yell to get everyone else to shut the heck up.

For times like these, we bring you: zitto.

It means ‘quiet’ or ‘silent’, and you can use it either as a description or an instruction.

Quello chiacchierone non riesce a restare zitto un minuto.
That chatterbox can’t keep quiet a single minute.

Zitti! Sta per cominciare il concerto.
Quiet, everyone! The concert is about to start.

Zitto! O ti caccio via.
Shut up or I’ll kick you out.

To Italian ears, the word is onomatopoeic: it sounds like the noise of hushing someone. Think about it: have you ever hissed ‘ztttt’ to tell someone to keep their mouth shut? That’s where zitto comes from.

You can make it slightly more polite by saying stare zitto (‘be quiet’) instead of zitto alone. 

State zitti, per favore!
Please be quiet!

Then there’s making someone else shut up (far stare zitto qualcuno), rather than just asking them.

Non riusciranno a farmi stare zitto.
They can’t keep me quiet.

You can also zittire someone: ‘hush’ or ‘silence’ them. You can even do it to yourself, if you just mean that you stopped talking.

L’oratore zittì all’improvviso.
The speaker suddenly fell silent.

And doing things alla zitta or zitto zitto means doing them ‘on the quiet’ – ‘hush hush’. 

Si sono sposati alla zitta.
They got married on the quiet.

So that’s how to say ‘zip it’ in Italian, but we should make a disclaimer: there’s no guarantee anyone will listen.

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

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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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