# It drizzles



## Włoskipolak 72

If it is drizzling, light rain and mist come out of the sky.
How do you say it drizzles in your language ?
Thanks!

Polish;

it drizzles = mży , dżdży  , siąpi
spit =  to rain or snow in light

verb = mżyć ,  dżdżyć , siąpić

*dżdża =* rain , deszcz =  deżdż , dżdże, ( plural, old Polish )

verbs;
*mżyć* = świecić słabym światłem ( glow dimly )
*mżeć* = migotać’, ‘ukazywać się niewyraźnie’, ‘śnić na jawie’, ‘śnić’ ( to flicker ',' to appear indistinctly ',' to daydream ',' to dream ')

noun
*Dżdża  *[ʤ̑ːa] , *mżawka  *[mʒafka] * , drobny deszcz*  [dɛʃʧ] = drizzle 
*Dżdżownica* = rainworm , ( earthworm )

To tell you the truth dżdżyć  is quite difficult to pronunce, even for some polish people..!


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## Olaszinhok

*Italian:*
drizzle
Piov*i*ggina (the verb in the present tense)
pioggerella; pioggerellina (the noun)


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh*

to drizzle: (in fact, 'drizzling')

*1 
bwrw glaw mân* - casting fine rain

*2
gwlithlawio* - dew-raining
*briwlan [glaw]* - shredding [rain] 
*ffluwchan* - raining in a dust-like manner
*brycho* - spotting
*briwlach *- shredding
*picach - *pecking
*lleitho* - dampening

*3
pigo bwrw -* pecking casting
*smwcian - *light raining
*smwcian bwrw* - light rain casting
*gwlithan* - dewing

Group 1 - Ordinary, everyday expression
Group 2 - Dialectical South, South East and South West Wales
Group 3 - Dialectical North East and North West Wales


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## Circunflejo

Spanish: 

Verb: lloviznar, chispear, pintear, mollinear, molliznear. Regional within Spain: orvallar (variant: orballar). There are other verbs that are used just in some countries in the Americas like garuar, paramar, pringar, serenar...

Noun: llovizna. Regional within Spain: orvallo (variant: orballo). Chirimiri (variant: sirimiri). There's also calabobos for the one that lasts a long time. Other terms: mollizna, mollina. There are other terms that are used just in some countries in the Americas like garúa, seresere (variant: cerecere), tapayagua, chischis, silampa, pelo de gato...


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## Penyafort

*Catalan*

Nouns:​*plugim*, *ploviscó *(_or _*ploviscol*), *plovineig*;​*gotellim*;​*brusca*, *brusquina*;​*xim-xim*;​*roina*​*ruixim*​*mullinet*​*ramitxó*​*repix*​​
Verbs:​*ploviscar *_or _*plovisquejar*, *plovinejar*;​*gotellimar*;​*brusquejar *_or _*brusquinejar*;​*roinar *_or _*roinejar*​*repixar*​


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## apmoy70

Greek:

Drizzle (noun): *«Ψιχάλα»* [p͡siˈxa.la] (fem.) < Koine 3rd declension deverbative fem. noun *«ψεκάς» psĕkás* (nom. sinɡ.), *«ψεκάδος» psĕkádŏs* (ɡen. sinɡ.), also *«ψακάς» psăkás* --> _drop of rain, particle, drizzle_ (of unknown etymoloɡy, possibly Pre-Greek), contaminated with Koine neut. noun *«ψίχαλον» psíkʰalŏn*, diminutive of 3rd declension masc. or fem. noun *«ψίξ» psíks* (nom. sinɡ.), *«ψιχός» psĭkʰós* --> _crumb, morsel, bit_ (of unknown etymoloɡy).

Drizzle (v.): *«Ψιχαλίζω»* [p͡si.xaˈli.zō] < «ψιχάλα» (see above).

It drizzles/it's drizzling: *«Ψιχαλίζει»* [p͡si.xaˈli.zi] (3rd p. sing. Present indicative).


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## Stoggler

There is also the word ‘mizzle’ in (British) English, which is synonymous with drizzle. I think it’s mostly a regionalism these days, but I have heard it.


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## Welsh_Sion

@Stoggler . I think it's a portmanteau word: mist + drizzle = mizzle (cf 'Scotch mist'). I too have heard it once or twice on the weather forecast following the BBC news (by Jim Bacon, perhaps?) - but that was some time ago. (It may also of course be a regionalism.)

Trivial point number 328b: Jim Bacon's twin brother, Dick, has been a fellow member of our Advanced Conversation French class for many years. (The family is from Norfolk, originally.)


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## nimak

Macedonian:

*роси* (rósi); *мршори* (mŕšori)_, _*мршоли* (mŕšoli), *мошори* (móšori), *мошоли* (móšoli); v. 3p.sg. = "it drizzles"

"Rósi" is usually used for rain, and "mŕšori/móšoli" for snow and rain.


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## Kazimir Lenz

Bulgarian:

_роси (rosi)_, denominal from _rosa_ 'dew' (as in Macedonian);

_ръми (rŭmi)_, usually considered onomatopoeic, but cf. Lithuanian _rimti_ 'to calm down, quieten' (in that case the Bulgarian verb would go back to _*rĭměti _or _*rĭmiti_).


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## Stoggler

Welsh_Sion said:


> @Stoggler . I think it's a portmanteau word: mist + drizzle = mizzle (cf 'Scotch mist').



Apparently it’s been around since at least the Middle English period as a verb, and has cognates in other Germanic languages.  It’s etymology is connected with mist (not unsurprisingly)


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## Włoskipolak 72

Penyafort said:


> *Catalan*
> 
> Nouns:​*plugim*, *ploviscó *(_or _*ploviscol*), *plovineig*;​*gotellim*;​*brusca*, *brusquina*;​*xim-xim*;​*roina*​*ruixim*​*mullinet*​*ramitxó*​*repix*​​
> Verbs:​*ploviscar *_or _*plovisquejar*, *plovinejar*;​*gotellimar*;​*brusquejar *_or _*brusquinejar*;​*roinar *_or _*roinejar*​*repixar*​


Gracias Penyafort !

Are all of them ordinary expressions or some of them ( nouns )  are also dialectical or synonyms ?


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## Włoskipolak 72

Polish 

The main verbs ( no dialect forms ) , to drizzle : 

*dżdżyć
mżyć
siąpić
rosić*


Synonyms ( verbs )

*siać *- w odniesieniu do delikatnego deszczu ( in relation to the gentle rain )
*padać drobnymi kroplami
kropić
zraszać
kapać
popadywać*


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## ThomasK

Stoggler said:


> There is also the word ‘mizzle’ in (British) English, which is synonymous with drizzle. I think it’s mostly a regionalism these days, but I have heard it.


Dutch (or Flemish)* miezerig weer* (mizzl-y weather), mizeren --- but I do not think mist is included... _*Motregen *_is also possilble, something like -rain in the shape of crushed debris, so I read in the etymology books... ;-)


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## Circunflejo

ThomasK said:


> I do not think mist is included...


Thanks for pointing out it because thanks to your comment I realizaed that I overlooked that mist isn't included in any of the Spanish words that I quoted on 4 so it's time now to say it in order to avoid misunderstandings.


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## Roxxxannne

Stoggler said:


> There is also the word ‘mizzle’ in (British) English, which is synonymous with drizzle. I think it’s mostly a regionalism these days, but I have heard it.


I've heard that from someone from the the lower Mississippi region of the US.  To him it was different from drizzle, and meant the precipitation that appears when when fog or mist (not clouds) becomes supersaturated with moisture.


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## Awwal12

Russian:
it drizzles - моросит (morosít, impersonal 3p.sg.)
drizzle - морось (móros')


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## Roxxxannne

Small point of information: In AmE the verbs for precipitation are present continuous, not present simple.
it's raining, it's drizzling, it's snowing, it's sleeting, etc. I don't know about mizzle per se but I have heard 'it's misting.'


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## marco_2

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> noun
> *Dżdża  *[ʤ̑ːa] , *mżawka  *[mʒafka] * , drobny deszcz*  [dɛʃʧ] = drizzle
> *Dżdżownica* = rainworm , ( earthworm )



For *mżawka, drobny deszcz *we also have a noun *kapuśniaczek*, but it doesn't form a verb.


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## Terio

French:

Il bruine (more standard)
Il crachine
Il pleuviote
Il pleuvote
Il pleuvasse
Il mouillasse


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## Armas

Finnish: *tihuttaa* "it's drizzling"
tihku "drizzle"
tihkusade lit. "drizzle rain"
They are obviously related to tihkua "to seep, ooze"


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## Sobakus

I must confess that simple rows of synonyms with no explanations, such as have been given for Polish and Catalan, don't really help, quite on the contrary they confuse - it's best to know just one word for a thing than not to know which of the half dozen words to choose in any given situation. Perhaps these Russian examples can serve as a rough model for further replies:

_мороси́т_ v. impers., _мо́рось_ n.- it rains in small droplets that tend to hang in the air and get easily blown by the wind. Often comes with a fog, for which there's the regional noun _мга, _cognate to Pol. _mży_ and to Ru. _мгла_ "dark fog, mist", and that I've never encountered. Colloquially, any drizzling kind of rain. Also _и́зморось_, which has now been commonly reinterpreted as _и́зморо*з*ь _from _моро́з _"frost" and designates its winter weather counterpart which results from night fog, typically sunny and in the morning.

_дожди́т_ v. impers. - it rains lightly, intermittently and for a prolonged period of time. Might be improperly etymologised as denoting any kind of rain, which is properly _идёт дождь_ "the rain goes"_.

ка́пает_ v. impers - it comes down in drops.

_бры́зжет_ v. impers., commonly pron. with /ʑ:/ - it sprinkles or drizzles incessantly.

_накра́пывает_ v. impers. - describes the way the raindrops hit the dry ground with an audible thumping sound. Often said of the start of raining.

_грибно́й дождь_, idiomatic n. phrase "mushroom rain" - a light, warm, brief summer rain with sunshine.

_си́тный дождь_, idiomatic n. phrase, _си́тничек_ n. "sieve rain" - a steady kind of rain that looks like it's been passed through a sieve.


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## Terio

As for French, _il bruine_ is by far the most standard. The other ones are regional or colloquial.


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## Awwal12

Sobakus said:


> commonly pron. with /ʑ:/


That dated Moscow pronunciation is far from "common", in my opinion (yes, it contains /*ždž/ etymologically, so it comes with /ʑ:/ if the speaker has that phoneme in his speech, but it's another matter).

Speaking about the words, I hardly ever met "дождит" in live speech, as much as "ситный дождь" (which sounds dialectal).

"Грибной дождь" basically has two possible meanings:
1. a light summer drizzle (even without the sun);
2. a sunshower (regardless of the intensity).


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## ThomasK

Terio said:


> French:
> Il pleuviote
> Il pleuvote
> Il pleuvasse


 Could you consider the -_(i)ote V _verbal diminutives? Or could it refer to reiteration, repetition? Do you associate any meaning with the -asse ending? --- I recognize something that in -miez-er-en, where the -er- is the same as the one in tweet > twitter (repetition, short tweets)...


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## Terio

They both are verbal suffixes that are used to form derivates.

I am not a specialist, but Grévisse gives to _- oter_ a diminutive or frequentative connotation and to _-asser_ a augmentative or pejorative connotation. You may find various examples at :

Suffixe OTER | Mots en -OTER


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## ThomasK

Great information. So diminutive, sometimes pejorative.


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## apmoy70

There's also the neologism in Greek of *«ψιλόβροχο»* [p͡siˈlɔ.vrɔ.xɔ] (neut.) --> lit. _thin rain_, which is the light rain, while the previous word I posted («ψιχάλα») is the rain in small droplets.
«Ψιλόβροχο» = compound; oblique *«ψιλο-»* [p͡si.lɔ-] as first element in compounds < adj. *«ψιλός, -λή, -λό»* [p͡siˈlɔs] (masc.), [p͡siˈli] (fem.), [p͡siˈlɔ] (neut.) --> _thin, tenuous, fine-spun_ < Classical adj. *«ψῑλός, -λή, -λόν» psīlós* (masc.), *psīlḗ* (fem.), *psīlón* (neut.) --> _bald, bare, smooth, exposed_ (of unknown etymology, probably Pre-Greek) + fem. *«βροχή»* [vrɔˈçi] --> _rain, moistering, indentation_ < Classical deverbative fem. noun *«βροχή» brŏkʰḗ* (idem), o-grade of Classical v. *«βρέχω» brékʰō* (> in MoGr *«βρέχω»* [ˈvre.xɔ]) --> _to wet, drench_ (PIE *mergʰ- _to wet, moisten_ cf Ltv. merga, _soft rain_). 
Impersonal v.: *«Ψιλοβρέχει»* [p͡si.lɔˈvre.çi] --> _it thin-rains_ (3rd p. sing. Present Indic.).


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