Another opportunity is here to roll out some similar-looking, potentially confusable Spanish nouns and look at their differences. Today it’s the turn of rodillo (masculine) and rodilla (feminine).
You can listen to how rodillo is pronounced here:
Un rodillo (masculine) is any of various different cylindrical devices that are turned over and over (on the spot or while advancing or retreating) and used especially to flatten or spread something. Un rodillo often translates as a roller:
Se necesita pintura, rodillo y brocha.
You need paint, a roller and a brush.
Necesitará la colaboración de otra persona para que pase este rodillo de masajes a lo largo de su columna vertebral.
You will need the help of another person to run this massage roller along your whole spine.
Nos comprometemos a financiar el sistema de riego y el rodillo apisonador.
We are undertaking to fund the irrigation system and the roller.
As a utensil typically used in a kitchen or bakery, un rodillo may be a rolling pin:
Atacó a su madre con un rodillo de madera.
He set about his mother with a wooden rolling pin.
el rodillo de amasar
the rolling pin
Rodillo is also used figuratively to convey the unstoppable force of something flattening enemies or opposition in its path. It may also refer to a vote being steamrollered through without debate because of an existing majority:
un país que se negaba a doblegarse ante el rodillo de los ejércitos del enemigo
a country which refused to bow down before the rolling advance of enemy armies
Su ritmo es el de un rodillo, que va aplastando a todo el que se opone a su dulce venganza.
His approach is that of a roller, flattening everything that opposes its sweet revenge as it goes.
No quiere ser rodillo que aplaste a la oposición.
He doesn’t want to steamroller the opposition.
Moving on to rodilla, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
La rodilla is the part of your leg between your thigh and your calf or that central joint in your leg facilitating movement. It’s the knee:
Balanceaba la bandeja sobre las rodillas.
He was balancing the tray on his knees.
Las rodillas le temblaban y se sentó en un cajón vacío.
Her knees were shaking and so she sat down on an empty crate.
Luego cayó de rodillas.
Then he fell on his knees.
Se puso de rodillas y se echó a llorar.
He knelt down and began to cry.
DID YOU KNOW?
Related to rodilla is the verb arrodillarse (to kneel down) and the adjective arrodillado (kneeling):
Trinidad puso la caja de cartón en el suelo y se arrodilló frente a él.
Trinidad put the cardboard box on the ground and knelt down in front of it.
Estaba arrodillado en la sala, recogiendo las cartas del suelo y poniéndolas en el cofre.
He was kneeling down in the living room, picking up the letters from the floor and putting them in the chest.
QUIZ TIME
La rodilla is a part of your body. In the following examples, can you identify some other body parts?
Luego se enrolló la manga hasta el codo.
José fue operado del tobillo del pie izquierdo.
Le puso una mano en el hombro.
Mi reloj ha desaparecido de la muñeca.
La abuela se rompió la cadera.
Luego se enrolló la manga hasta el codo.
Then he rolled up his sleeve as far as his elbow.
José fue operado del tobillo del pie izquierdo.
José had an operation on the ankle of his left foot.
Le puso una mano en el hombro.
She put a hand on his shoulder.
Mi reloj ha desaparecido de la muñeca.
My watch is no longer on my wrist.
La abuela se rompió la cadera.
My grandmother broke her hip.
Join us again next week as we turn our eyes towards more similar-looking Spanish nouns with different meanings.
