SHARE
COPY LINK

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Italian word of the day: ‘Perbacco’

By Jove! This exclamation is irresistible.

Italian word of the day: 'Perbacco'

Today's word is another request: perbacco, or as our reader Dino wrote in his email, “Perbacco!”

The exclamation mark is practically obligatory, since perbacco(!) is indeed an exclamation, and a great one at that (it's a category Italian excels in: see also mannaggia, accipicchia, accidenti, caspita, ammazza… The list really does go on).

I'll translate this one as 'by Jove', since like that English phrase, it's a somewhat quaint way to express your surprise, delight or irritation by invoking a Roman god.

While Anglophones go for the king of the gods, Italians on the other hand turn to… the god of wine. Perbacco is a contraction of 'per Bacco', or 'by Bacchus', the same god of grapes and drinking that you'll recognize in this well-known painting by Caravaggio. (It's kept in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, if you want to see it in person.)

Using perbacco is extremely easy: you just exclaim it any time you're mildly perturbed, be it for reasons good or bad. 

Perbacco, che fortuna!
Gosh, what luck!

Silenzio, perbacco!
Be quiet, for heavens' sake!

And it's fully family-friendly, so you can use it in front of anyone from your kids to your in-laws to your nonne without fear of giving offence.

If you want to take perbacco to the next level, you can even add the intensifying suffixes ~one ('big') or ~issimo ('very') to give these exaggerated examples listed by the dictionaryper Bacco baccone or per Bacco bacchissimo! Now those deserve at least five exclamation marks.

Do you have a favourite Italian word you'd like us to feature? If so, please email our editor Jessica Phelan 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 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.

SHOW COMMENTS