стиглий
“стиглий” — ripe in Ukrainian. Adjective, level A2, topic — shopping and money. From styhnuty, "to ripen" — a far cousin of English "stand" and "stay": fruit that has stood long enough. The meaning traveled, the root stayed. In a live sentence: “Ці груші вже стиглі” — The apples are already ripe. One of 85 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Ukrainian course.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | стиглий |
| Translation | ripe |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
From styhnuty, "to ripen" — a far cousin of English "stand" and "stay": fruit that has stood long enough. The meaning traveled, the root stayed.
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.
- Ці груші вже стигліThe apples are already ripe
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- гривняhryvniaThe Ukrainian currency. After numbers from five up it becomes hryven: desyat hryven, "ten hryvnias" — the ending melts.
- скільки коштує?how much is it?Skilky is "how much", koshtuye is "it costs". About several items the verb grows an ending: skilky koshtuyut?
- крамницяshopUkrainian's own word for a shop, from kram, "goods". The borrowed mahazyn is equally common — two doors, same shop.
- прилавокcounterThe market table where goods lie. A separate stall at the bazaar is a stiyka or just a mistse — but the shop counter is always this word.
- продавецьvendorThe -ets ending marks the male person. A woman is prodavchynia — and at the market it is more often her you will be talking to.
- покупецьbuyerFrom kupuvaty, "to buy" — the same ancient root as English "cheap" and "shop" cousins. Buyer and vendor are one family with two endings.
- вагиscalesFrom vaha, "weight" — a distant cousin of the word inside "wagon". Always plural, like the English scales: the pans come in twos.
- кілограмkilogramSpelled with i and a single m, and at the market almost always clipped to kilo anyway. Ask for "kilo pomidoriv" and the scales start moving.
- свіжийfreshFresh bread and fresh news take the same word: svizhi novyny. The i letters give it the "ee" ring — svy-zhyy.
- цінникprice tagFrom tsina, "price". The little tag itself is tsinnyk, but in speech people point and say tsina more often than they name the tag.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “ripe” in Ukrainian?
From styhnuty, "to ripen" — a far cousin of English "stand" and "stay": fruit that has stood long enough. The meaning traveled, the root stayed.
- How do you say “scales” in Ukrainian?
From vaha, "weight" — a distant cousin of the word inside "wagon". Always plural, like the English scales: the pans come in twos.
- How do you say “shop” in Ukrainian?
Ukrainian's own word for a shop, from kram, "goods". The borrowed mahazyn is equally common — two doors, same shop.
- How do you say “price tag” in Ukrainian?
From tsina, "price". The little tag itself is tsinnyk, but in speech people point and say tsina more often than they name the tag.
- How do you say “buyer” in Ukrainian?
From kupuvaty, "to buy" — the same ancient root as English "cheap" and "shop" cousins. Buyer and vendor are one family with two endings.
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 “ripe” in Ukrainian?
«стиглий». In a live sentence: “Ці груші вже стиглі” — The apples are already ripe. Adjective, level A2, from the set “shopping and money”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
From styhnuty, "to ripen" — a far cousin of English "stand" and "stay": fruit that has stood long enough. The meaning traveled, the root stayed. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.