Weather words in Welsh

Weather words and weather-related expressions in Welsh with English equivalents.

General words and phrases

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).

Types of rain and other forms of precipitation

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

Idioms for heavy rain

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

Other weather-related expressions and sayings

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:

Links

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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