In Italian, tinnitus Literally meaning “whistling in the ear,” it refers to a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, often associated with tinnitus.
My ears are ringing!
My ears are ringing/buzzing!
However, when this expression is preceded by a verb Feel (Feel), can also be used metaphorically to describe the unsettling feelings others have when talking about you or someone else. In English, the equivalent expression is “your ears are burning”.
Feeling like your ears are buzzing
feel like someone is talking about you
In Italian, when the two ears are considered a pair rather than separate organs, they are often called ear, using the irregular feminine plural form.When talking about a single organ, men ear More common.
When it comes to idioms, you can find multiple versions with either a female or a masculine character. Here are some other examples:
- All ears (masculine plural) = All ears
- Even the walls have ears/ears (masculine/feminine plural) = These walls have ears
- poor hearing / through the ears (masculine plural/singular) = poor hearing
To learn more about the differences between these two plural forms, be sure to check out our article on the word ear.
The ancient belief that people's ears ring or burn when they talk about someone dates back at least to Roman times, mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (published between 77-79 AD) past this point.according to Messenger DictionarySome even believe that the nature of a conversation, whether positive or negative, can be discerned based on whether the affected ear is the left or right ear.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honors in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, fluent in English and Italian, as well as varying degrees of fluency in Japanese, Welsh and French. Originally from Toronto, Heather has lived in several countries, notably Italy for six years. Her main research areas are language acquisition, education and bilingual teaching.
