Sometimes I feel as if I spend half my life chwilio for things – the other half of a pair of sanau (socks), an important dogfen (document) on my computer I somehow forgot to save, my allweddi (keys) when I’m already late leaving the house… the list goes on.
If you hadn’t guessed, chwilio, our word of the day today, means to search or to look for.
chwilio
to search
The root of chwilio is the noun chwŷl. It’s not used much these days, but it means a turn or a course of events, or more broadly, even fortune and destiny. Chwŷl comes from the proto-Celtic *swelos and also gave Welsh the word dychwelyd (to return).
It is alright to say edrych am in Welsh, literally borrowing the English structure look for, but chwilio may sound more idiomatic. You can still pair it with the preposition am to create the meaning to look for or to search for rather than just to search. So, after colli fy mwclis (losing my necklace), I’ll find myself chwilio am fy mwclis.
Remember that am causes a soft mutation, so if I were looking for just any old mwclis rather than specifically mine – perhaps if I was siopa (shopping) – I would be chwilio am fwclis (looking for a necklace).
Ymofyn, a form of gofyn (to ask), is another way of saying to search for something, which doesn’t necessarily need to be paired with am. This word also means to enquire and in some dialects using it to mean to search can sound quite formal.
Chwilio, or sometimes the variant archwilio, can also mean to examine. In this case it often gets used with the preposition trwy (through). To examine luggage is in Welsh just chwilio drwy fagiau (searching through bags). On a more metaphorical level, a person might chwilio ei gydwybod (examine his conscience) in a time of moral crisis.
Dw i’n defnyddio geiriadur i chwilio am eiriau.
I use a dictionary to look up words.
Archwilio is not the only common variant of chwilio – there is also ymchwilio, which means to research or to investigate. The concept of research in general is also a form of this word; it’s ymchwil.
Ymchwilio goes with the preposition i, often translated as to, and you’d do the same thing with chwilio itself if you were using it in this context, for example by saying dw i’n mynd i chwilio i mewn iddi (I’m going to look into her, as in do a background check).
And, as in English, we use chwilio for the search function on a cyfrifiadur (computer) too. From this usage we also get the excellent word chwiliadur (search engine)! –iadur is a common ending for words in Welsh that represent a catalogue of information, like geiriadur (dictionary) or cyfrifiadur itself.
Once you have come up with whatever it was you were chwilio am you have a lot of options for how to express yourself. Darganfod means to discover, but dod o hyd i / cael hyd i (to find, but in English it would literally be to come of the length to / to get the length to) is really common.
There is also taro ar which means to hit on and suggests a surprising or unexpected darganfyddiad (discovery / find). People borrow the English find too, making it ffeindio.
Mae hi’n chwilio am swydd barhaol.
She’s looking for a permanent job.
I’ve already mentioned quite a lot of things that people regularly need to chwilio amdanyn (look for them), but what about:
- waled = a wallet
- pwrs = a purse
- sbectol = glasses
- siaced = a jacket
- ffôn symudol = a mobile phone
- ci = a dog
- nodlyfr = a notebook
- trwydded yrru = a driving license
- gwaith cartref = homework!
When you’ve lost something particularly pwysig (important), you may need to chwilio amdano â chrib mân (search for it with a fine-toothed comb), or to chwilio a chwalu (rummage or look thoroughly) for it. Hopefully, you won’t be chwilio am nyth cwhwrw (going on a wild goose chase, literally searching for a mare’s nest) and your task will be easier than chwilio nodwydd mewn tas wair (searching for a needle in a hay stack)!
