affondare

sink

verb ahf-fohn-DAH-reh Less Common

Origin: from a- + fondo 'bottom'

Also means

thrust

Usage Note

Affondare means to sink, used both for ships going down and transitively for sinking something. It also means to plunge or thrust, as in affondare il coltello ('to drive in the knife'). It is built on fondo ('bottom'), so literally 'to send to the bottom'.

Examples

"La nave rischia di affondare."

Natural Translation

The ship risks sinking.

Literal Translation

The ship risks of sink.

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