Spanish Word of the Day: Lluvia (rain)

Where Heather and I live in Wales, we get an excessive amount of rain during the year. In fact, it’s what makes the countryside so green and beautiful! Rain, rainfall or lluvia is described as water that falls from the clouds in the form of droplets. The word lluvia comes from the Latin pluvia meaning rain or rainfall.

Lluvia is a feminine noun and takes the following definite and indefinite articles:

• la lluvia = the rain
• las lluvias = the rains
• una lluvia = a rain
• unas lluvias = some rains

There is also a verb that pertains to rain and this is llover (to rain). It is an irregular verb which means its conjugations are not standard to a verb ending in er.

Below is a list of different types of rain and rain related terms and phrases:

• pringa/gota de lluvia = raindrop
• época/estación de lluvia = rainy season
• lluvia ácida = acid rain
• botas de lluvia/de agua = rain boots
• resistente a la lluvia = rain resistant
• lluvia de ideas = brainstorming
• cancelarse por la lluvia = rained off

Drizzle or fine rain can be described as lluvia menuda or fina and it actually has its own word – llovizna – with a verb to go with it – lloviznar (to drizzle).

There are many ways to say heavy rain or lluvia intensa (intense). These include lluvia abundante (abundant), lluvia constante (constant), lluvia incesante (incessant), and lluvia persistente (persistent).

And what about a rainy day? That is known as un día lluvioso.

Lluvia has a great many synonyms. This is a list of all the ones I could find, but maybe you know of more?

agua, aguacero, pluvial, chubasco, chaparrón, precipitación, diluvio, calabobos, llovida, sirimiri, orvallo

Fun fact…

Lluvia in Latin America is also the name for the shower found in the bathroom.

Lluvia can also be used figuratively to signify an abundance or a large quantity of something.

Proverbs and idioms using lluvia/llover