Nia is an aspiring writer from Powys, Wales. She attended Welsh-medium primary and secondary school, and is passionate about preserving the beautiful Welsh language and culture. She speaks some French, and is currently learning Arabic.
The Welsh word for flying or to fly is the verb-noun hedfan. Any time I’ve taught someone this word I’ve told them to remember it by using the name of Harry Potter’s owl, Hedwig! hedfan to fly Sadly, there’s no etymological relationship between these two words! While Hedwig is an old German women’s name, hedfan …
The harsh, hissing sound of the Welsh word hyll has always struck me as a great representation of what it actually means: ugly. hyll ugly You can use hyll to describe masculine, feminine and plural nouns. Although hell is technically the feminine form, it’s not common at all. Hyllion is a bit more familiar, but …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is heddwch, which means peace. It’s hard to think of a more pleasant concept to discuss, so let’s dive right in! heddwch peace If you’re interested in pre-modern Welsh poetry and music, you may well have come across the word hedd, a synonym. In fact, hedd is the older …
Are you fascinated by the wonders of the human corff (body), or the mysteries of gronynnau isatomig (sub-atomic particles)? If it stretches the ymennydd (brain) to talk about gwyddoniaeth (science) in English, let’s kick it up a notch and try discussing this worthy intellectual pursuit in Welsh! gwyddoniaeth science This is a feminine noun, and …
Way back in the day before cyfrifiaduron (computers), I would have had to ysgrifennu (writing) this erthygl (article) with papur (paper), ysgrifbin (pen) and a geiriadur (dictionary). Now that I have a cyfrifiadur (computer) for ysgrifennu and ymchwilio (researching), things are much more convenient! cyfrifiadur a computer cyfrifiaduron computers Cyfrifiadur is a masculine noun. It …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is allwedd, meaning key. It’s as useful a word as the object it describes! It’s a feminine noun, and the plural form is allweddi or allweddau, depending on context, region, and personal preference. allwedd key Until I started writing this article, I hadn’t even realised that it’s largely dialectal. …
Today’s word of the day is the simple cryf, meaning strong. It’s an adjective, although historically it has been sometimes used as a noun to mean a very strong man. cryf strong As with many old Welsh words, the meaning can be more flexible and fluid than you might expect. In every day conversation, it’s …
The Welsh word estyn is used in a variety of ways, to mean reach, stretch, give, or pass. But its most basic meaning, covering the majority of ways in which it’s used in everyday Welsh, is to extend. estyn extend Did you spot a similarity between this word and its English translation? If so, you’d …
I’ve always found it rather charming that in both Welsh and English, the word for a brief spell of rain is the same as the device most of us use to wash with in the bathroom. In Welsh, that word is cawod. It can be pluralised as either cawodau or cawodydd. In my experience, the …
Nobody’s perfect – we’ve all done things that were a bit silly or careless at one time or another. I certainly have my fair share of those regrets, and I have to admit, most of them happened when I was yn fy arddegau (in my teens). But the blynyddoedd arddegol (teenage years) aren’t all bad. …
