What does “esernyő” mean in Hungarian?
Kinga az esőben fut a buszhoz
A1 Hungarian listening practice · Standard Hungarian · Picked for people who know a little
Ernyő is the canopy itself: fabric stretched over a frame. Put a job in front of it and you get the whole family — esernyő is a rain-canopy (umbrella), napernyő a sun-canopy (parasol), and ejtőernyő a falling-canopy, which is to say a parachute. One small word, three everyday objects, and nothing new to memorise once you have it.
Ejtő comes from ejt, “to drop, to let fall,” so a parachute is literally what slows the falling. The word reaches past physical objects too: ernyőszervezet is an umbrella organisation and képernyő — “picture-screen” — is a TV or computer screen. Here Kinga opens her esernyő, steps out into the rain and sprints for the number seven bus.