In honor of Valentine’s Day, I bring to y’all, limonare, the Italian word for ‘kissing with tongue.’ Or as Wikizionario explains ‘passionately kissing with tongue flirting’ sic. Simply, to make out.
Related to limonare is the noun, limonata, meaning an exchange of passionate kisses.
Limonare is conjugated like a regular Italian verb ending in ‘are.’ The term is probably derived from the kitchen utensil used to squeeze lemons: the squeezer-part, perhaps resembling a tongue. Another hypothesis is that fruit vendors in Lombardia (1 of the 20 regions in Italy, Milan is its capital), used to sell lemons in pairs- how cute!
Examples:
Hanno limonato ieri sera. – They made out last night
Oggi è il giorno di San Valentino, con chi limono? – Today is Valentine’s Day, who am I going to make out with?
Related words to limonare – baciarsi, slinguare, pomiciare. (God I love the Italian language.)
Last but not least, the Crookers, an Italian house music DJ duo have popularized the term limonare with their catchy hit, Limonare.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
2 comments
This is a wonderful explanation! Thank you from a random italian who just happened to google limonare for apparently no reason 🙂
Limonare is not used a lot in Rome…we use “trescare”! 🙂