Meaning
cast, calque
- a mould, cast, or impression taken from a sculpture or surface
- a loan translation or calque borrowed from another language
In a sentence
I restauratori hanno realizzato un calco in gesso della statua romana.
The restorers made a plaster cast of the Roman statue.
La parola italiana 'grattacielo' è un perfetto calco dell'inglese 'skyscraper'.
The Italian word 'grattacielo' is a perfect calque of the English 'skyscraper'.
Hanno prelevato un calco delle impronte lasciate nel terreno fangoso.
They took a cast of the footprints left in the muddy ground.
Word forms (2)
| Word | Word forms |
|---|---|
| calco | masculine · singular |
| calchi | masculine · plural |
Usage notes
- The plural is 'calchi' with -chi to preserve the hard /k/ sound.
- In linguistics, it refers to loan translations such as 'grattacielo' from 'skyscraper'.