siwy
“siwy” — grey (of hair) in Polish. Adjective, level A2, topic — people and family. Only about hair and beards. The ordinary grey-color word is not used for greying — the hair kind keeps its own. In a live sentence: “Dziadek ma siwą brodę i białe włosy” — Grandpa has a grey beard and white hair. One of 138 words in the set “people and family” in the Polish course.
In short
| Written in Polish | siwy |
| Translation | grey (of hair) |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Only about hair and beards. The ordinary grey-color word is not used for greying — the hair kind keeps its own.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Dziadek ma siwą brodę i białe włosyGrandpa has a grey beard and white hair
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- przyjacielclose friendThe word borrowed by several languages for a casual buddy means real friendship here. A mere acquaintance is znajomy — the difference is heard.
- rodzinafamilyOne root with the words for "kin and birth": family is the people you were born with. Not to be confused with the word for a war band it happens to resemble.
- mamamumIn address, this is exactly what people say: mama. The official word, the one documents use, is matka.
- tatadadEveryday is tata, affectionate tatuś. The official ojciec sounds ceremonial, the way "father" does.
- dzieckochildNeuter: to dziecko. Two children are dwoje dzieci — Polish counting treats children in its own special way.
- sprzedawcashop assistantFrom sprzedać, "to sell" — the root says itself. A woman is sprzedawczyni, and at the market counter it is more often her.
- klientcustomerThe same Latin root as the English word, and the same wide job: the customer of a shop, a bank, a hairdresser. The bookish kupiec, "merchant", is not heard at the market.
- człowiekhuman, personThe plural ignores the rule: not człowieki but ludzie, "people". At the start you hear "chwo-VYEK" — and the word is a close cousin of its counterparts across the region.
- mężczyznamanA spelling trap: at the ę you hear a plain e, and the cz is softer than it looks. A noun ending in -a that is nonetheless masculine: ten mężczyzna. The door of the gents' room carries exactly this word.
- kobietawomanSaid "koh-BYEN-tah" — the ie softens the b. A wife is żona, and the difference is a whole life: kobieta is a woman, żona is a wife — mixing them up offends both.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “grey (of hair)” in Polish?
Only about hair and beards. The ordinary grey-color word is not used for greying — the hair kind keeps its own.
- How do you say “customer” in Polish?
The same Latin root as the English word, and the same wide job: the customer of a shop, a bank, a hairdresser. The bookish kupiec, "merchant", is not heard at the market.
- How do you say “mum” in Polish?
In address, this is exactly what people say: mama. The official word, the one documents use, is matka.
- How do you say “woman” in Polish?
Said "koh-BYEN-tah" — the ie softens the b. A wife is żona, and the difference is a whole life: kobieta is a woman, żona is a wife — mixing them up offends both.
- How do you say “shop assistant” in Polish?
From sprzedać, "to sell" — the root says itself. A woman is sprzedawczyni, and at the market counter it is more often her.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “grey (of hair)” in Polish?
«siwy». In a live sentence: “Dziadek ma siwą brodę i białe włosy” — Grandpa has a grey beard and white hair. Adjective, level A2, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Only about hair and beards. The ordinary grey-color word is not used for greying — the hair kind keeps its own. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.