B2🎓 School & Academia
Italian word
bocciare
to fail a student (make them repeat the year)
Looks like
bocce (the game)
no direct English cognate
⚠️ The trap
Italian 'bocciare' literally means to shoot down (like a bocce ball). In academic context it means to fail a student so badly they must repeat the year — this concept ('bocciatura') does not have a single equivalent English word.
To say "no direct English cognate" in Italian:
N/A
"bocciare" in English means:
to fail a student (make them repeat the year)
Example
"È stato bocciato e deve ripetere l'anno."
"He failed the year and has to repeat it."
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