What does macchia in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word macchia in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use macchia in Italian.

The word macchia in Italian means spot, mole, mark, scrub, stain, soil, add a splash of , spot, tarnish, blemish, smear, like wild fire, here and there, peppered, hide out, lunar spot, Mediterranean scrub, sunspot, live in hiding. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word macchia

spot

sostantivo femminile (chiazza di colore)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
I quadri impressionisti sono dipinti con macchie di colore.
Impressionist artworks were painted using spots of color.

mole

sostantivo femminile (alterazione del colore della pelle) (skin)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sono andata dal dermatologo stamattina perché ero preoccupata per questa macchia.
I went to the dermatologist this morning because I was worried about this mark.

mark

sostantivo femminile (figurato (neo, difetto, imperfezione)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Questo episodio sarà una macchia sulla tua reputazione.
This incident will be a black mark on your reputation.

scrub

sostantivo femminile (boscaglia)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Lungo questa costa ci sono esempi di macchia mediterranea.
Along this coast there are many examples of the Mediterranean scrub.

stain, soil

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (provocare macchie)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Ho macchiato il vestito con il sugo della pasta.

add a splash of , spot

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (inserire liquido, ecc.) (beverages)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Per macchiare la torta con il caffè bastano pochi spruzzi.
To spot the cake with coffee you only need a few drops.

tarnish, blemish, smear

verbo riflessivo o intransitivo pronominale (figurato (di crimini, ecc.) (figurative, reputation)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Si macchiò di un crimine orrendo che gli costò l'ergastolo.

like wild fire

locuzione avverbiale (idiomatico (in tutte le direzioni) (figurative)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
L'epidemia si sta diffondendo a macchia d'olio.
The epidemic is spreading like wild fire.

here and there, peppered

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")

hide out

lunar spot

Mediterranean scrub

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Questa isola è un tripudio dei profumi e dei colori della macchia mediterranea.
This island is a dance of perfumes and colors of the Mediterranean scrub.

sunspot

live in hiding

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of macchia in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

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Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.