SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Giallo’

It's no mystery what this Italian word means.

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

In Italy, the word giallo is rarely out of the headlines.

That’s because the word is a byword for a certain type of mystery, thanks to a popular series of detective stories – usually quite short books in the pulp genre, often with unbelievable twists – that were published in the early 20th century between distinctive yellow covers.

Un giallo is still used as shorthand for ‘a detective story’ today.

But in Italian newspaper-speak, giallo can refer to anything vaguely mysterious: like ‘riddle’ or ‘enigma’. Most often you’ll see it accompanying crime stories, particularly when the culprit isn’t yet known.

‘Mystery surrounding the death of the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, shot in the heart at home: a recent crime story.’

It’s also used to spice up the fairly mundane. Local residents report hearing an unexplained noise? It’s un giallo. Sports reporters aren’t sure what time a football match starts? Un giallo again. 

‘Ahead of Lazio-Roma, the time of the derby is a mystery: decision expected today’: one sports headline from 2019.

Headline writers are the people most prone to use the word this way: in everyday speech, you’re more likely to hear giallo (pronounced “jial-lo”) in all the places you’d expect it – on a football pitch (un cartellino giallo is a ‘yellow card’), inside eggs (il giallo dell’uovo – ‘egg yolk’) and all over the phone book (le pagine gialle – ‘Yellow Pages’).

But there’s one extra place it turns up: on traffic lights, which for some reason in Italy turn giallo instead of orange or amber.

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

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

We’re sure you’ll learn this Italian phrase in no time.

Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

If you’ve ever found yourself at an Italian airport and looked up at the departure board, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the word volo, which is the Italian equivalent of ‘flight’ – but also the first person singular of the verb volare (to fly) in the present tense.

And if you’re a fan of classical music, you may of course have heard of Italy’s famous opera trio Il Volo (‘The Flight’).

But what do Italians mean when they say they’re going to do something al volo (hear it pronounced here)? 

Much like its closest English equivalent, ‘on the fly’, al volo has very little to do with aircraft or flying as it’s one of the most common Italian phrases to say that you’re doing something ‘quickly’ or ‘readily’, often without having prepared it or thought about it much beforehand.

Facciamoci una pasta al volo e poi usciamo.

Let’s cook some pasta on the fly and then get out.

Ho dovuto preparare la presentazione al volo perché non mi avevano avvisato della riunione.

I had to put the presentation together on the fly as I’d not been notified of the meeting. 

But usage of al volo is not limited to practical actions or tasks you may do quickly and without much thought. 

In fact, you can also pair it with the verb capire (understand), comprendere (comprehend) or imparare (learn) to say that you grasped something ‘immediately’ or ‘in no time’, meaning you won’t need any further explanation. 

Tuo figlio capisce tutto al volo. Ha un grande futuro davanti a lui, a mio parere.

Your son understands everything in no time. He’s got a great future ahead of him, in my opinion.

And if you haven’t fully understood or grasped something on your first try (which is painfully likely when dealing with Italy’s infamous red tape, even for locals), don’t worry: you’ll always have the option to ask a domanda al volo, or a ‘quick question’, to clear up your doubts. 

Another popular way to use the phrase is in relation to big opportunities, whether that be in life, in education or at work. So an opportunity that va presa al volo must be seized immediately as it’s too good to be missed. 

Finally, if you’re planning on watching Euro 2024 matches on Italian TV over the next month, you may hear football commentators use al volo multiple times while analysing a match as colpire la palla al volo means to strike it while it’s in the air, or ‘volley’ it.

Do you have a favourite Italian word 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.

SHOW COMMENTS