If you asked ten people what they think the most important gair (word) to learn in a new iaith (language) is, there’s not a bad chance you’d get ten different answers! Personally, I’m in the diolch (thank you) camp. It’s one that you need to say in almost every single conversation, especially if you’re exploring …
Gwawr is the Welsh word for dawn, and also a fairly popular girl’s name. It may also be used to mean sunrise, although that is technically the literal translation codiad haul. The plural can be either gwawriau or gwawroedd. gwawr dawn gwawriau dawns Though they sound very different, gwawr is actually a cognate to some …
The word tyfu in Welsh means to grow. It’s just like the English in that it can refer to all kinds of twf (growth), from the biological, to the financial, to the spiritual. And it can also be used for causing something to grow or helping something to grow. tyfu to grow The origin of …
Did you know that chwerthin (laughing) actually originally evolved as a form of communication? That’s why we’re more likely to chwerthin at a jôc (joke) told by a ffrind (friend) than someone we don’t know. chwerthin to laugh This word can be tricky to pronounce because it starts with the unique letter ch, which is …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is unfortunately a rather yucky one! We’re going to discuss the word seimllyd, literally meaning fatty. But it’s often used in a more general sense to refer to a greasy texture, or metaphorically to mean a smarmy person, like oily in English. seimllyd greasy This adjective can’t mutate, and …
The Welsh word for a roof is the very simple to, a masculine noun with the plural forms toeau and toeon (roofs). It’s an easy one to confuse, because people often shorten eto (again) to to colloquially. Plus, since it looks like the English word to, a lot of people mispronounce it. to roof toeon …
I love asking people what their favourite words in Welsh are, because you always hear such a great variety. But one that comes up time and time again is chwyrligwgan / chwirligwgan, an incredible tour-de-force of a noun that refers to a piece of children’s offer chwarae (play equipment) that troelli (spins). In particular, it’s …
A few months ago, we published an article about the Welsh word hyll, meaning ugly or hideous. Now we’re going to kick it up a notch – this article’s about a word that’s even hyllach (uglier). It’s time to delve into the expansively awful adjective that is erchyll (hideous, ghastly, terrible, atrocious, dreadful… ). erchyll …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is rhai, an incredibly useful determiner and pronoun. It’s best translated as some. rhai some Rhai can only mutate in one way, becoming rai. Soft mutationrai Nasal mutationN/A Aspirate mutationN/A But there are a lot of cases where this can happen, so it’s worth being aware of. For example, …
Today’s Welsh word may seem a bit of an oddball choice at first, but if you look a little closer, it’s key to the history and geography of Wales. I’m talking about abaty, meaning abbey. The plural form is abatai (abbeys). abaty abbey abatai abbeys This plural form may be a bit surprising. It’s because …