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fatica

fatigue

noun fah-TEE-kah Less Common
Body & Health Health & Illness

Origin: from Latin 'fatigare' (to tire)

Also means

effort

Usage Note

Fatica is a false friend: it means tiredness or hard effort, not 'fatigue' as a uniform. It lives in the everyday phrase fare fatica a ('to struggle to'); the plural fatiche shifts -ca to -che to keep the hard 'k' sound.

Examples

"Faccio fatica a camminare."

Natural Translation

I struggle to walk.

Literal Translation

I-make fatigue to walk.

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