Acclaimed Welsh writers throughout the ages have included Hedd Wyn, an incredible Welsh-language poet who was posthumously awarded the great honour of Y Gadair (The Chair), famous children’s author Roald Dahl, who was in fact born and raised in Cardiff, and of course, the iconic Dylan Thomas. The Welsh word for to write is ysgrifennu. …
The Welsh word for goat – the mischievous domestic animal – is gafr. The plural form is geifr. gafr goat Gafr is exclusively a feminine noun, making it more accurately the equivalent of the English nanny goat, while a billy goat is a bwch gafr (plural: bychod gafr), though in informal conversation you might hear …
In Welsh, the verb meaning to complete something is cwblhau. cwblhau to complete It comes from the word cwbl, meaning complete or everything, paired with the suffix –hau, which is used to shift adjectives in Welsh into verb-nouns. For example, iach (healthy) becomes iachau (to heal, to make healthy), and cryf (strong) becomes cryfhau (to …
I moved to Wales at the age of five, and was immediately immersed in fully Welsh-medium primary school, having previously known very little Welsh at all. Although it’s an experience I’m very grateful for, it was definitely a steep learning curve! I can say with confidence that there is no singular grammar error I made …
One of the very few Welsh phrases that you might find some English speakers are actually aware of is iechyd da, which is the Welsh equivalent of Cheers! I’ve often heard it rendered as the slightly unglamorous yucky-dah when used in toasts by non-Welsh-speakers, at dinner parties in very Anglicised parts of Wales, or on …
You may have heard the word llawn in the chorus of one of the best-known Welsh songs, Calon Lân: Calon lân yn llawn daioni. This translates to: a pure heart full of goodness. Having grown up in Wales, I’ve been singing these words since primary school, but it wasn’t until more recently that I gave …
Today’s word of the day is dafad, which is the Welsh word for sheep. These animals are an iconic part of the Welsh landscape, especially where I grew up in mid Wales. dafad sheep Dafad, not to be confused with dafaden (wart), is a feminine noun and is susceptible to the soft and nasal mutations. …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is Mawrth, a proper noun which can refer to either Tuesday, or the month of March. Mawrth Tuesday / March / Mars Mawrth was borrowed in from the Latin Martius, and all of the Celtic languages have a similar word, like the Breton Meurzh and the Irish Gaelic Máirt. …
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 …