Translation
lean; thin (free of fat)
Word origin
Assembled in Esperanto from the prefix mal-, which reverses, and grasa ('fatty'), whose own root goes back through Vulgar Latin grassus to Latin crassus, 'thick'. English grease comes down the same line.
- Origin
- Esperanto compound
- Root
- mal- + grasa
- English cognates
- grease, crass
Examples
.
She bought some lean meat in the shop.
.
After the long winter the horses were thin.
.
He is tall and lean.
- reverses, and it reverses grasa
specifically. That is the whole word: + gras + a. What matters is
which axis you have just picked, because Esperanto has two words where English
has one loose one.
is the fat axis. a, the - form of
dika, is the dimension axis. A cut of meat with little fat in it is ; a butcher's word, and
the one the grasa page already points at. A person carrying little fat is also
. But a plank, a book or a sheet of paper is a, thin because
it does not measure much through, and calling it would be a joke
about its diet. English lets thin cover both and leaves you to work it out;
Esperanto asks the question up front.
Consistency with the neighbours, since this is the place people slip. For
people, dika is the ordinary, unloaded word for stout
and is not: reads as greasy rather than fat, which is
ruder than anyone intends. The counterpart holds on this side too.
of a person is neutral, closer to lean than to skinny, and it carries none
of the sourness English packs into scrawny. If you want the sourness you have
to add it yourself, with or a.
Where this fits
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malgrasa: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "malgrasa" (lean; thin (free of fat)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 55.