Line drawing of malvarmumi
Coloured illustration of malvarmumi
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Translation

to catch a cold

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Word origin

Built inside Esperanto from mal- (the opposite of) plus varma (warm) plus -um, the suffix with no fixed meaning. Varma comes from German warm, so the whole word is a Germanic root wrapped in two Esperanto affixes.

Origin
Esperanto affixation on German warm
Root
mal- + varma + -um
English cognates
warm

Examples

, .

If you do not wear a coat, you will catch a cold.

.

I caught a cold in the winter.

, .

He stayed in bed because he had caught a cold.

The -um here is doing the thing the -um article warns you about: it is not derivable. does not mean to be cold, or to make something cold - it means to come down with a cold, the illness. Hold it apart from its neighbours: is to cool something down, is to grow cold, is simply to be cold to the touch. The noun is , a cold, and describes the sniffly state. English hides the same ambiguity behind one word, so the Esperanto set is arguably clearer once you have learned it.

Where this fits

Used in

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Esperanto Ā· Free printables

malvarmumi: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "malvarmumi" (to catch a cold): 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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This word is taught in chapter 16, lesson 10: malvarmumi, fiasko, insekto and 7 more words.