In our last blog we looked at asciutto and secco (dry). Well here comes the rain again, so let’s see what vocabulary we need to describe … wet!

umido = damp:

il bucato è ancora umido (the washing is still damp)

l’umidità (dampness – noun fem.):

dopo tutta questa pioggia c’è molta umidità in cantina (after all this rain there’s a lot of dampness in the cellar)

we also have the verb inumidire = to dampen:

è meglio inumidire i colli delle camicie per stirarli bene (it’s best to dampen the shirt collars to iron them properly)

here are some other words and expressions that derive from umido

l’umidificatore (humidifier – noun masc.)

il deumidificatore (dehumidifier – noun masc.)

in culinary jargon ‘in umido’ means ‘stewed’, e.g. pollo in umido (chicken stew)

l’umido = compost/organic kitchen waste

 

bagnato = wet

non entrare in cucina, perché il pavimento è ancora bagnato (don’t go into the kitchen, because the floor is still wet)

if something is really wet we say: bagnato fradicio (soaking wet) or bagnato fino al midollo (wet to the bone)

we also have the verb bagnare = to wet, to water:

hai bagnato l’orto? (have you watered the vegetable garden?)

the reflexive form bagnarsi means ‘to get wet’:

stai attento a non bagnarti i pantaloni (be careful not to get your trousers wet)

when referring to rivers, bagnare means ‘to flow through’, e.g. l’Arno bagna Firenze e Pisa (the river Arno flows through Florence and Pisa)

when referring to seas and lakes it means ‘to wash/to lap’, e.g. la Toscana è bagnata dal Mar Tirreno (the Tyrrhenian sea laps the Tuscan shores )

here are some idiomatic expressions deriving from bagnato:

mettere a bagno (to soak), e.g. devo mettere i fagioli cannellini a bagno (I must soak the cannellini beans)

essere bagnato come un pulcino  (literally: to be wet like a chick when it comes out of the egg), the best equivalent in English would be ‘to look like a drowned rat’

se non è zuppa è pan bagnato (if it isn’t a soup it’s soaked bread), meaning that two things are substantially the same even if they appear different

piove sempre sul bagnato (it never rains but it pours)

 

zuppo = soaked, drenched, zuppo comes from the old verb zuppare which meant ‘to pour soup on the bread’:

Maria è tornata a casa tutta zuppa (Maria came back home completely soaked)

we also have the verb inzuppare = to dip/dunk:

a colazione inzuppo i biscotti nel caffelatte (for breakfast I dip biscuits in my milky coffee)

and its reflexive form inzupparsi = to get soaked:

mi si sono inzuppati i pantaloni (my trousers got soaked)

you can also use inzuppato to mean soaked:

la sua maglietta era tutta inzuppata di sudore (his tee shirt was soaked with sweat)

 

Finally, combining bagnato with asciutto we have the word il bagnasciuga = the waterline or the shoreline (noun masc.), literally ‘the wet-dry’:

abbiamo fatto una romantica passeggiata lungo il bagnasciuga al tramonto (we had a romantic walk along the shoreline at sunset) … ahh, che bello!