🇮🇹 Italian

zio

masculine

lo zio

uncle

Try it

zio
/lo ˈtsiːo/
← masculine feminine →

How do you say zio in Italian?

IPA
/lo ˈtsiːo/

How do you pronounce zio in Italian?

zio is pronounced /lo ˈtsiːo/ in Italian.

Example sentences

Lo zio italiano è arrivato ieri con suo figlio piccolo.

The Italian uncle arrived yesterday with his little son.

Mio zio è molto generoso e gli piace aiutare i suoi nipoti.

My uncle is very generous and he likes to help his nephews and nieces.

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Why is it masculine?

Zio (uncle) is masculine because it derives from Latin "avunculus," which was a masculine noun, and Italian inherited its gender classification through regular sound changes (avunculus > *avunclo > zio). Like most nouns ending in -o in Italian, it retained the masculine gender that was already established in its Latin ancestor.

What is the Italian word for uncle?

The Italian word for uncle is lo zio — masculine.

Gender across languages

LanguageWordArticleGender
🇫🇷 Frenchonclel'masculine
🇪🇸 Spanishtíoelmasculine

Practice with Accord

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