2500 rompere to break, to smash. From Latin rumpere (“to break”). Cognate with rupture (which is from the participle of Latin rumpere, and lost m) and with the root of interrupt, erupt, disrupt, Spanish romper and French rompre (“to break”). Unrelated to English romp or its derived words or rumble. As a mnemonic, think of rumbling thunders that break things on the ground. Examples, rompere il ghiaccio (“to break the ice”); rompere con il suo ragazzo (“to break up with her boyfriend”).

2506 peggio (adj., n., adv.) worse, worst. From Latin peius < peior (“worse”). Cognate with pejorative (where the -tive ending is from the Latin past participle suffix -tus), Spanish peor and French pire (“worse”). Examples, questa macchina è peggio dell’altra (“this car is worse than the other one”; note the preposition di for “than”); peggio per te (“too bad for you”).

2513 spiaggia beach. Cognate with French plage and Spanish playa (“beach”), with English plat (“a plot of land”), and flat if traced to Proto-Indo-European. As a mnemonic, think of splashing water on the beach if you remember Italian pi- corresponds to pl- (e.g. pianta “plant”). Example, una spiaggia a forma di arco (“a beach in the shape of an arch / arc”).

2518 ignorare to not know, to be unaware (of); to ignore. Note the first meaning, which is quite common, just like Spanish ignorar and French ignorer. Not knowing is unintentional while ignoring is intentional. But you can think of it as “to be ignorant of the fact that”. Example, ignoravo che / non sapevo che tu fossi tornato (“I didn’t know you were back”).

2519 ateneo university, università. From Latin Athenaeum (“a temple of Athena”), from Ancient Greek Ᾰ̓θηνᾶ (“Athena”) + -ιον (a noun-forming suffix). Athena is the goddess of wisdom, where a university is meant to possess. If you pronounce th of Athena as /t/, the sound is close to that of ateneo. The synonym università is much more common.

2522 smettere to stop, to cease, to quit, to give up. From s- + mettere (“to put”, “to set”). Prefix s- negates the action of the verb mettere. Not putting or setting is stopping or quitting doing something. While fermare indicates stopping the action or movement of something or somebody, smettere is mostly stopping or quiting as a result of a personal decision. Examples, smettere di lavorare (“stop working”; note the preposition di followed by a verb infinitive); smettere di fumare (“to quit / stop smoking”); ha smesso di fumare (“he has quit smoking”; note the irregular past participle). See also fermare (“to stop”, “to halt”).

2530 tardi (adv.) late. From Latin tarde (“late”). Cognate with Spanish tarde and French tard (“late”), with the root of English retard. This word means “late” in general, unlike in ritardo, which means “late or behind a certain schedule”. Example, siamo arrivati ​​tardi (“we arrived late”); presto o tardi (“sooner or later”; prima o poi is now more common); non è troppo tardi, sono appena le 10 di sera (“it’s not too late, it’s barely 10 at night”). See also ritardo (“delay”, “lag”).

2531 opporre to oppose, to object, to offer or put up (resistance, counter-argument, obstacle, etc.). From Latin opponere (“to oppose”, “to set against”). Cognate with oppose, Spanish oponer (“to pit against”, “to oppose”) and French opposer (“to oppose”). Note a meaningful translation may not use the word oppose or object. Examples, opporre resistenza (“to put up resistance”); si oppone a questa proposta (“he’s opposed to the proposal”; in the reflexive usage, it literally means “he sets himself up against ...”).

2532 giallo yellow. From Old French jalne, a variant of jaune (“yellow”), which has entered Modern French. Cognate with jaundice (“a disease causing yellowing of the skin, eyes, etc.”). Alternatively, simply use yellow as a mnemonic if you pretend g is pronounced like g as in French genre. Or think of a jacket that is yellow. Example, giallo scuro / chiaro (“dark / light yellow”).

2535 punteggio (in a game or an exam) score, mark. From punto (“point”) + -eggio (noun suffix, whose semantic function is not clear). Examples, un punteggio di 100 punti (“a score of 100 points”); ottenere il punteggio pieno all’esame (“to get the full score on the exam”).

2542 minaccia (n.) threat. 2903 minacciare to threat. From Latin minacia (“threat”). Cognate with menace, Spanish amenaza and French menace (“threat”). Examples, minacce di morte (“death threats”; note the ending of the plural form); Trump minaccia ritorsioni contro ... (“Trump threatens retaliation against ...”).

2544 nodo knot; node. From Latin nodus (“knot”). Cognate with node, nodule, probably with knot if traced to Proto-Indo-European, with Spanish nudo and French nœud (“knot”). Unrelated to English nod. Examples, fare / disfare / stringere un nodo (“to tie / untie / tighten a knot”); nodo linfatico (“lymph node”).