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.
If only life were hawdd! If you hadn’t guessed, hawdd is the Welsh word for easy. Don’t get tripped up though – there’s another equally common synonym, rhwydd, just to make things anodd (difficult). hawdd easy The etymology of hawdd is a bit of a mystery. We don’t know much more than that it appeared …
Have you ever heard, maybe in slightly old-fashioned English literature, coins referred to as silvers? Well, in Welsh, that equivalency has lasted into the modern day – arian is the Welsh word for the colour silver, the metal silver, and for money. arian silver / money Arian comes from the Old Welsh argent. This is …
Today’s Welsh word is asgwrn, which means bone. It’s a masculine noun, and the plural form is esgyrn. asgwrn bone The word evolved through the Middle Welsh ascurn, originating from the proto-Celtic *astkorn, which is also the ancestor of the Cornish and Breton askorn. *Astkorn was made up of the elements *ast (bone) and *kornu …
You simply cannot visit Wales without encountering Y Ddraig Goch – the iconic red dragon that adorns the Welsh flag, as well as most souvenirs you’ll end up buying in Wales. It’s a symbol of Welsh national pride, so draig (pl: dreigiau) is definitely one of the most important words you need to learn in …
The Welsh adjective euog usually means guilty or blameworthy, although it can also be used as a translation for deceitful, or simply wicked. euog guilty The initial eu diphthong has a heavier, fuller sound in the Northern Welsh than in the Southern pronunciation. Euog is actually an altered form of another adjective, gau, which means …
There’s many a cute little bwthyn (cottage) to be found in Wales, whether it’s the colourful houses of the seaside town Aberaeron, or the gorgeous half-timbered farm buildings that can be spotted throughout Mid- and North Wales. The plural of bwthyn is bythynnod. bwthyn cottage Bwthyn originates from the older word bwth (hut), combined with …
The Welsh word for the number one is the straightforward un, but tracing all the words and expressions that have evolved from it is anything but simple. un one Un comes from the proto-Celtic *oinos, and probably, before that, from the Old Latin oinos. This would explain why the word for one is similar in …
Pant is a Welsh geographical term that refers to a hollow in the ground, or a small valley. It’s a masculine noun. Its plural form is pantiau, and there is a diminutive term pantyn that refers to a particularly small pant. In modern spoken Welsh, we mostly encounter it in place names. pant small valley …
Magu is a Welsh word that means to bring up or to raise, specifically in the context of raising children or animals. magu to raise There is a very, very slight difference in pronunciation for this word between North and South. Above I’ve given an example of the Southern pronunciation, with a long ‘ah’ sound …
Cymraeg (Welsh) is a Brythonic Celtic language, meaning it shares less of its vocabulary with English than you’d imagine for two countries right next to each other. However, there are some exceptions to this, like the borrowing clyfar, meaning clever. clyfar clever Obviously, clyfar is a loanword from English, probably borrowed in the mid-1700s. The …
