/a ˈpasso di luˈmaka/ lit. ‘at a snail’s pace’
Italian idiom, everyday. Very slowly.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use A passo di lumaca
?
Everyday and neutral, used in news headlines about traffic, trains and slow reforms as much as in conversation. It hangs off a verb of movement: “andare”, “procedere”, “avanzare a passo di lumaca”. You can also call a slow person “una lumaca” outright: “muoviti, lumaca!”
Also said come una lumaca, lento come una lumaca
A passo di lumaca
in real sentences
-
Il treno procede a passo di lumaca.
The train is moving at a snail’s pace.
Tatoeba, sentence by bailujia, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does A passo di lumaca
come from?
Treccani lists “a passo di lumaca” under “lumaca” among the comparisons built on the snail’s proverbial slowness, together with “andare come le lumache”. English Wiktionary marks it as an idiom equal to English “at a snail’s pace”. No date of first use is recorded, and the picture needs no theory.
Mistakes learners make with A passo di lumaca
Swapping in “chiocciola”, the other Italian word for snail. It’s a perfectly good word but the idiom fixes on “lumaca”.
Other Italian idioms like A passo di lumaca
Spot a mistake in A passo di lumaca
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.