Italian Body Parts: 35+ Essential Words With Pronunciation and Medical Phrases

Why Learn Body Parts in Italian?

Knowing body parts in Italian is essential for medical situations, understanding countless idioms, and appreciating one of Europe's most expressive languages. According to Ethnologue's 2024 data, approximately 68 million people speak Italian natively, with millions more studying it as a second language worldwide.

Italian body part vocabulary presents a unique grammatical challenge: several common body parts have irregular plurals that switch gender entirely. The masculine singular il braccio (arm) becomes the feminine plural le braccia (arms). This pattern, inherited from Latin neuter nouns, affects some of the most frequently used body words in the language.

"The irregular plurals of body-part nouns in Italian represent one of the most fascinating survivals of the Latin neuter gender. Words like braccio/braccia, dito/dita, and ginocchio/ginocchia preserve a grammatical pattern that disappeared from all other Romance languages." (Martin Maiden & Cecilia Robustelli, A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian, Routledge, 2013)

This guide covers 35+ body parts organized by region, with pronunciation, gender, irregular plurals, medical phrases, and the vivid idioms that Italians use daily. For interactive practice with authentic Italian content, visit our Italian learning page.

Head and Face

The head and face contain the highest density of essential vocabulary. Pay special attention to l'occhio / gli occhi (eye / eyes) and l'orecchio / le orecchie, which both feature gender-switching irregular plurals.

Key Medical Phrases for Head and Face

When visiting a doctor or pharmacy in Italy, these phrases are invaluable:

• Mi fa male la testa (mee fah MAH-leh lah TEH-stah): "My head hurts"
• Ho mal di testa (oh mahl dee TEH-stah): "I have a headache"
• Mi fanno male gli occhi (mee FAHN-noh MAH-leh lyee OHK-kee): "My eyes hurt"
• Ho mal di denti (oh mahl dee DEHN-tee): "I have a toothache"
• Mi sanguina il naso (mee sahn-GWEE-nah eel NAH-zoh): "My nose is bleeding"

Italian uses two main constructions for pain: fare male (to do/make pain), where the body part is the subject, and avere mal di (to have pain of) for common ailments like headaches and stomachaches.

Upper Body and Torso

Upper body vocabulary is essential for medical descriptions and everyday conversation. The word la schiena (back) is one of the most frequently used body words in Italian, given how common back pain complaints are.

Medical Phrases for the Upper Body

• Mi fa male la schiena (mee fah MAH-leh lah SKYEH-nah): "My back hurts"
• Ho mal di stomaco (oh mahl dee STOH-mah-koh): "I have a stomachache"
• Mi fa male il petto (mee fah MAH-leh eel PEHT-toh): "My chest hurts" (seek immediate help)
• Ho la nausea (oh lah NOW-zeh-ah): "I feel nauseous"

Arms and Hands

The arm-and-hand group showcases Italian's most dramatic irregular plurals. Il braccio (arm) becomes le braccia (arms), and il dito (finger) becomes le dita (fingers), both switching from masculine to feminine.

Body Part Idioms: Arms and Hands

Italian hand and arm idioms are colorful and widely used:

• Avere le mani in pasta (to have hands in the dough): to be involved in something, to have connections
• Dare una mano (to give a hand): to help out
• Alzare il gomito (to raise the elbow): to drink too much
• Avere le mani bucate (to have holed hands): to be a spendthrift
• Stare con le mani in mano (to stay with hands in hand): to do nothing, to be idle
• Mettere le mani avanti (to put the hands forward): to cover yourself, to make excuses in advance

Lower Body and Legs

Lower body vocabulary features another set of gender-switching plurals, most notably il ginocchio → le ginocchia (knee/knees).

Lower Body Idioms

• In gamba (in leg): capable, sharp, on the ball ("Quel ragazzo è in gamba!")
• Prendere in giro (to take around): to make fun of, to pull someone's leg
• Non stare in piedi (to not stand on feet): to make no sense
• Mettere un piede in fallo (to put a foot in error): to make a misstep
• Avere i piedi per terra (to have feet on the ground): to be grounded, practical

Internal Organs

Internal organ vocabulary is essential for medical communication. The Società Dante Alighieri notes that Italian medical terminology, rooted in Latin, often closely mirrors the formal anatomical terms used internationally.

Essential Medical Phrases With Organs

• Mi batte forte il cuore (mee BAHT-teh FOHR-teh eel KWOH-reh): "My heart is beating hard"
• Mi fanno male i reni (mee FAHN-noh MAH-leh ee REH-nee): "My kidneys hurt"
• Ho la pelle irritata (oh lah PEHL-leh ee-rree-TAH-tah): "My skin is irritated"
• Mi sono rotto un osso (mee SOH-noh ROHT-toh oon OHS-soh): "I broke a bone"

The Fare Male Construction: Expressing Pain in Italian

Italian has two main patterns for describing pain:

Pattern 1: Fare male (the body part does pain to you)

Pattern 2: Avere mal di (you have pain of)

Pattern 1 works with any body part. Pattern 2 is used for common, recurring ailments and drops the article entirely.

Body Part Idioms Native Speakers Actually Use

Italian is extraordinarily rich in body-part expressions. The Accademia della Crusca, Italy's premier language authority, has documented hundreds of these across centuries of Italian literature and speech. Here are the ones you will hear most, and that appear frequently in Italian films:

• In bocca al lupo (in the mouth of the wolf): good luck (reply: crepi il lupo!, may the wolf die!)
• Costare un occhio della testa (to cost an eye of the head): to be extremely expensive
• Non avere peli sulla lingua (to have no hairs on the tongue): to speak bluntly
• Avere il sangue freddo (to have cold blood): to be calm under pressure
• Rompersi la testa (to break one's head): to rack one's brain
• A occhio e croce (by eye and cross): approximately, roughly

"The body metaphor in Italian proverbial language constitutes the most productive semantic field in the entire idiomatic lexicon, with over 800 documented expressions in the Crusca archives." (Accademia della Crusca, Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca)

Practice Body Parts With Real Italian Content

Learning vocabulary from tables provides essential structure, but hearing these words in authentic Italian conversation is what makes them permanent. Italian cinema, from Fellini to contemporary comedies, is packed with body-part vocabulary, medical scenes, and idiomatic expressions.

Wordy lets you watch Italian content with interactive subtitles. Tap any body-part word to see its gender, irregular plural, pronunciation, and meaning in context. Instead of just memorizing from lists, you encounter la testa, il cuore, and le braccia naturally, the way native speakers use them.

Explore our blog for more Italian guides, or check out the best movies to learn Italian for viewing recommendations that bring this vocabulary to life.