Published 01/03/2017
| Last Updated 16/12/2024
To celebrate St. David’s Day we asked hundreds of people to describe what Wales means to them in just one word…
We invited visitors to the Senedd to write their word on a postcard and leave it with us. We also filmed some particularly patriotic volunteers…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv26uQxNj5g
It’s been fantastic to see
so many different words showing a range of emotions, connections and viewpoints. It comes as a reminder of the
many different voices the National Assembly for Wales represents.
It has also confirmed a few things we may have already known…
Wales doesn’t have the best weather…
A lot of words alluded to the famous Welsh climate with
cold, grey, rainy and wet all making an appearance. One postcard gave the word
warm followed by the clarification ‘not weather though’ in brackets. Just in case we got the wrong idea.
… but it’s beautiful, and you’re proud of it.
Two of the most popular words were variations of
beautiful and
pride. The unique landscape of Wales was also covered by the words
spectacular,
scenic,
mountains and
green.
Wales is a land of history, culture and song…
Many words reflected Wales’s rich heritage, with a number of you choosing
culture, history, language, legends, rugby and
music.
While the word
football didn’t get a mention, we did get a
Bale!
Wales is your home…
Home,
cartref and
adref in Welsh, was overwhelmingly the most common word submitted across all languages. People gave us lots of related words which sum up a sense of home and belonging including:
community, hiraeth, together, welcome, etifeddiaeth, united, love, solidarity and
roots.
Wales can still offer a few surprises…
Some unusual words we received…
Heartbreak – is there a story behind this one?
A picture of a whale – representing the emoji generation
Ansbaradigaethus – A fun word to learn in Welsh, it means something is so good you can’t explain it!
There’s also these
magnificent video contributions...
Wales is definitely a land of poets…
We were given
so many different words. Take a look…
The translations of the words we received in other languages:
| Word |
Language |
Meaning |
 |
Gujarati |
Tolerant |
 |
Arabic |
Paradise |
 |
Greek |
Truthful beyond truth |
 |
Hebrew |
Home |
 |
Chinese |
Great |
 |
Punjabi |
Home |
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