Weather words and weather-related expressions in Welsh with English equivalents.
| Cymraeg | English |
|---|---|
| tywydd | weather |
| braf | fine, nice, pleasant |
| diflas | miserable |
| poeth | hot |
| cynnes / twym | warm |
| haul | sun |
| heulog | sunny |
| oer | cold |
| rhew | frost |
| rhewi | to freeze |
| sych | dry |
| gwlyb | wet |
| llaith | damp, humid |
| cwmwl | cloud |
| cymylog | cloudy |
| niwl | fog, mist |
| niwlog | foggy, misty |
| glaw | rain |
| glawog | rainy |
| bwrw glaw, glawio | to rain |
| enfys; pont y glaw | rainbow |
| eira | snow |
| bwrw eira | to snow |
| glaw eira; eirlaw | sleet |
| cenllysg; cesair | hail |
| gwynt | wind |
| gwyntog | windy |
| storm | storm |
| stormus | stormy |
Weather is refered to as hi (she/it) in Welsh, and when you put the above words into phrases, they're structured as follows:
| Cymraeg | English |
|---|---|
| Sut dywydd ydi hi? | What's the weather like? |
| Sut mae'r dywydd heddiw? | What's the weather like today? |
| Mae hi'n braf | It's fine |
| Mae hi'n ddiflas | It's miserable |
| Mae hi'n boeth | It's hot |
| Mae hi'n heulog | It's sunny |
| Mae hi'n gynnes / dwym | It's warm |
| Mae hi'n oer | It's cold |
| Mae hi'n rhewi | It's freezing |
| Mae hi'n sych | It's dry |
| Mae hi'n wlyb | It's wet |
| Mae hi'n gymylog | It's cloudy |
| Mae hi'n niwlog | It's foggy |
| Mae hi'n bwrw glaw / Mae hi'n glawio | It's raining |
| Mae hi'n wyntog | It's windy |
| Mae hi'n stormus | It's stromy |
You can miss out the hi in all these phrases, e.g. Mae'n braf. To talk about weather in the past just change mae or roedd, and for future weather change it to bydd, e.g. Roedd hi'n oer neithiwr (It was cold last night), Bydd hi'n braf yfory, gobeithio (It'll be fine tomorrow, hopefully).
| Cymraeg | English |
|---|---|
| glaw | rain |
| glaw mân; gwlithlaw; glaw smwc | drizzle, light rain |
| glaw trwm | heavy rain |
| glaw gyrru | driving rain |
| glaw rhewllyd | freezing rain |
| glaw iâ | frozen rain |
| glaw taranau / tyrfau | thundery rain |
| glaw gochel | heavy downpour ("rain to shelter from") |
| glaw 'Stiniog | (heavy) Ffestiniog rain |
| glaw tinwyn Abertawe | heavy cold rain from a south-easterly direction persisting all day long, 'the wettest rain out' ("white tailed rain of Swansea") |
| glaw mynydd | drizzle falling on high ground when it is dry in the lowlands ("mountain rain") |
| glaw golau | rain when the sky is bright towards the east |
| glaw tyfu / tyfiant | light April rain conducive to growth ("growing rain") |
| glaw (mis) Mai | first May rain (reputed to be good for weak eyes and also for killing lice in cattle) |
| cawod | shower |
| cawodi | to shower down |
| dafnu; pigo | to drip, drop |
| brasfrwrw | big spaced drops |
| sgrympian | short sharp shower |
| arllwys | pouring |
| tollti | pouring |
| yn ei dymchwel | pouring down |
| brylymu | pouring very quickly |
| llifo | flooding |
| towlud | throwing |
| taflu | throwing |
| hegar law | fierce rain |
| lluwchlaw | sheets of rain |
| chwipio bwrw | whiplash rain |
| pistyllio | fountain rain |
| piso | pissing down |
| curlaw | beating rain |
| tywallt | absolutely bucketing |
| stido | thrashing down |
| tresio | maximum intensity |
| eira mân | fine or driven snow |
| eira lluchio | drifting snow or driven snow |
| eira difrisg | trackless or untrodden snow |
| Cymraeg | English |
|---|---|
| Mae hi'n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn | It's raining old women and sticks |
| Mae hi'n bwrw cyllyll a ffyrc | It's raining knives and forks |
| Mae hi'n bwrw fel o grwc | It's raining like from a bucket |
Other idioms for heavy rain in various languages
| Cymraeg | English |
|---|---|
| Mae golwg glaw arni, Mae hi'n cau am law, Mae hi'n hel am law, Mae hi am law, Mae glaw ynddi | It looks like rain |
| (Myned) haul dan ei gaerau | sunset ("The sun going under its ramparts"). |
| O haul i haul | From day to day ("From sun to sun") |
| (Daw) haul ar fryn (eto) | Better days will come ("The sun will return to the hill"). |
Hear Welsh words for weather:
Sources and more weather words in Welsh
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/cymraeg/yriaith/tudalen/derek_tywydd.shtml
http://www.learn-welsh.net/welshvocabulary?topic=World%20-%20weather&level=primary
http://joemoransblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/welsh-words-for-rain_8.html
http://techiaith.bangor.ac.uk/GeiriadurAcademi/
http://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
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