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.
Wy is the Welsh word for egg, and it’s our word of the day today. wy egg The evolution of the word wy is uncertain, but it’s hypothesised that it (and similar words in other Celtic languages) come from a proto-Celtic root word that was something like *auio or *awyom. Catchy! Wy first appeared in …
There’s perhaps no view as universally beloved as that of the enfys (rainbow), a pattern of colours in the sky caused by the movement of light through airborne water. Often seen as symbolising hope, luck, and prosperity, enfysau / enfysoedd (rainbows) inspire artists and dreamers everywhere. enfys rainbow Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (The University of Wales …
What foods can you think of that people either love or hate? The most popular example has got to be Marmite, but other controversial foodstuffs include olewydd (olives), pysgod (fish), and the subject of today’s article, madarch (mushrooms). madarch mushrooms Before we begin, I’ve got to make my allegiance clear – dw i’n hoffi madarch …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is a bit of a mouthful, but it’s worth getting to grips with as it’s a really useful bit of vocabulary. It’s defnyddio, a verb-noun which means to use. defnyddio to use Defnyddio comes from the combination of the noun defnydd (use) with the suffix -io, which is commonly …
As with most languages, the kind of Welsh you should use depends on the situation you’re in and who you’re talking to. A lot of this depends on how ffurfiol (formal) you need to be. ffurfiol formal Ffurfiol is formed from the noun ffurf (form), combined with the suffix –iol, which is used a lot …
Something very important to consider when designing buildings, planning events, or creating resources is accessibility. This means generally how easy and convenient it is for people to make use of what you’re creating, but it’s often used specifically to refer to accessibility for disabled people. The Welsh word for accessible is hygyrch. hygyrch accessible The …
I always say I wish I had more time in the day to get all my housework done, or to have time to focus on hobbies… but realistically, if you gave me a few extra hours, I’d probably just use it for cysgu (sleeping). cysgu to sleep Cysgu is the verb form of the noun …
Oes gennych chi frawd? (Do you have a brother?) Whether older or younger, having a brawd (brother) can be a huge pain. I wouldn’t change mine for the world, but don’t tell him I said that. brawd brother In old-fashioned Welsh, the plural form of brawd was brodorion, but today we use brodyr (brothers). It’s …
The Welsh word for month is mis and the plural is misoedd. mis month In South Wales, you may sometimes hear mis pronounced with a sh sound at the end, like this: In general, it’s quite common in South Welsh pronunciation for s sounds at the end of words to shift to sh sounds. Mis …
Today’s topic is another one that you’re more likely to have encountered in its mutated than its original form. It sounds quite cool before you remember you’re talking about linguistics, doesn’t it? 😉 buan fast / prompt Our Welsh word of the day is buan, usually rendered yn fuan. Technically, buan is an adjective which …
