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.
Of all the flaws, one that I’d definitely love to remove from myself is diogi! This noun means laziness or sloth, and it also works as a verb meaning roughly to laze about. diogi laziness / to laze about Both senses of diogi are derived from the adjective diog (lazy). The addition of the -i …
Food is something that brings us together across nations, cultures, and languages. You may not know the first thing about a country, but if you show appreciation and gratitude for the coginio (cooking / cuisine), you’re instantly much more likely to make yourself a popular guest. You could even say that food is something of …
There aren’t many things that evoke as much llawenydd (joy) as dawnsio (dancing), whether it’s at a clwb (club), a gwers (lesson / class), or just around your cegin (kitchen). I suppose that’s why we have the phrase dawnsio o lawenydd (to dance for joy) in both languages! One of my favourite Welsh-language canueon (songs) …
When learning a new language, one of the most useful types of vocabulary to get to grips with is the kind you’ll need for ysgrifennu (writing) things like llythyron (letters) and ebostiau (emails). And that’s where today’s word of the day comes in: annwyl – which means dear, but can also carry the meaning of …
The Welsh verb meaning to drink or drinking is yfed. It’s pronounced like this: yfed to drink But some people in the South say this instead: Yfed comes from the Old Welsh iben, and much, much, further back, from the proto-Indo-European root *pibeti. There’s no evolution in meaning, with the word having always referred to …
Llestri is the plural form of llestr, which has a range of definitions relating to different kinds of vessels. But on a day-to-day basis, it more often than not refers to dishes, or crockery generally. llestri dishes / vessels llestr a dish / a vessel As a singular noun, llestr is masculine. It comes from …
I was mostly quite a good disgybl (pupil) in school. I got good grades in arholiadau (exams / assessments) and was polite to athrawon (teachers). However, I did have one serious weakness, which was my presenoldeb (attendance) record! The Welsh word to describe my frequent days away from yr ysgol (school) is absennol (absent). absennol …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is babi, which means a baby. It’s a masculine noun – most nouns describing kinds of people tend to default to the masculine in Welsh –which pluralises to babis (babies). babi baby Babi is really a variant on baban, an older and more formal version form of the word. …
Swimming is well known as one of the best forms of exercise for overall fitness, improving iechyd cardiofasgwlaidd (cardiovascular health) and strengthening cyhyrau (muscles) whilst also being relaxing and low impact. The Welsh word for this satisfying pastime is nofio. nofio to swim Nofio comes from the Middle Welsh noun nawf. It can function as …
It’s a well-known phenomenon for Welsh words or phrases that are only used as a jôc (joke) or slang to be misrepresented to the rest of the world as standard, everyday words. One infamous example is the pysgod wibli-wobli (jellyfish), usually called sglefren fôr, seren bigog, or cont y môr in Welsh. (The last, though …
