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  What it means

  Literally “cloud scratcher.” The Polish word for a skyscraper — a very tall building that seems to scratch the clouds.

  Vocabulary

  • drapać — to scratch / to scrape
  • chmury — clouds (plural of 'chmura')

  Grammar note

  'Chmur' is the genitive plural of 'chmura' — the object being scratched. A compound noun formed from verb + genitive object.

  Cultural context

  A direct calque of the English 'skyscraper' — both languages independently chose the same metaphor of a building reaching up to scratch the sky.

  Beginner

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