grandō
feminine
In Latin, the English word "hail" can refer to weather phenomena or a greeting. The default form for the weather phenomenon is grandō.
When discussing weather, grandō is used as a noun to refer to balls of ice falling from the sky. Relatedly, the verb grandinat is used to describe the action of hailing.
Meaning: balls of ice (noun)
Which one should you use?
The noun grandō refers to the ice pellets themselves, while the verb grandinat describes the meteorological event of hailing.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The genitive singular form of the noun grandō is grandōnis, which means "of hail". The verb grandinat is the third-person singular present indicative form, meaning "it hails".
When do people say it?
To give greetings in a formal context, one might use the phrase salutem dicere, which translates to "to give greetings".
Did you know?
- In Latin, the word for hail, grandō, is closely related to the word 'granum', meaning 'grain'. This implies that Romans viewed hail as large, frozen grains falling from the sky.
- In classical Latin literature, particularly in poetry, the appearance of grandō was often used as an omen of divine anger or agricultural disaster.
- While grandō refers to ice, the word 'hail' as a greeting comes from the Latin salve, which literally means 'be well' or 'be in good health'.
Examples in context
- Ave, amicus meus!Hail, my friend!
- Salutem tibi dico, magister!I give you greetings, teacher!
- Salvēte, amīcī!Hello, friends!
- Salvē, discipula!Hi, student!
- Grandō magna cadit.Big hail is falling.
- Grandō alba est.The hail is white.
Example conversation
Lucia and Quintus are watching a storm from a window.
- LuciaVide, grandō cadit!Look, it is hailing!
- QuintusIta, et nix quoque.Yes, and snow too.
- LuciaGrandō fructus perdet.The hail is ruining the fruit.
- QuintusHoc est pessimum.This is the worst.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hail” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
