Lessico del supermercato in italiano

What does “scale mobili” mean in Italian?

An escalator in Italian is le scale mobili, which reads literally as “moving stairs.” Scala means a staircase or ladder, and mobile here means “moving” (its plural is mobili to match scale). So instead of borrowing the English word, Italian builds the idea from two everyday parts. Watch out for that mobili: as a separate noun it means “furniture,” so the same-looking word covers two very different things depending on context.

You’ll hear it listed among supermarket words: “Le scale mobili, il reparto, gli scaffali, il carrello.” The singular is la scala mobile; the plural scale mobili is common because shops and stations often have several. Scala comes from Latin scala (“stair, ladder”) and also gives you scala for a music scale and a building’s stairwell. Mobile traces to Latin mobilis (“movable”); as an adjective it means “moving/movable,” but the noun il mobile (plural i mobili) means a piece of furniture. Same spelling, two jobs — only the sentence tells you which. A handy pair to file next to it: la scala fissa, an ordinary fixed staircase.