macaroni

English

A pile of elbow macaroni

Alternative forms

• maccaroni
• (pasta): maccheroni

Etymology 1

From Italian maccaroni, obsolete variant of maccheroni (“macaroni”), plural of maccherone. This is of unknown origin, possibly from maccare (“bruise, batter, crush”), which itself is of unknown origin, or from late Ancient Greek μακαρία (makaría, “food made from barley”). Compare Sicilian maccarruni (“a single piece of macaroni”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɑk.əˈɹəʊ.ni/

  Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: măk'ə-rōʹnē, IPA^(key): /ˌmækəˈɹoʊni/
• Rhymes: -əʊni

Noun

macaroni (countable and uncountable, plural macaronis or macaronies)

1. (uncountable) A type of pasta in the form of short tubes; sometimes loosely, pasta in general. [from 17th c.]
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 32:

     "I can recommend this macaroni, for it is my favourite dish: I am very national. You will not take any? Ah, young ladies are, or ought to be, light eaters. Your ladyship will, I trust, set your fair companion an example."

2. (derogatory, historical) A fop, a dandy; especially a young man in the 18th century who had travelled in Europe and who dressed and often spoke in an ostentatiously affected Continental manner. [from 17th c.]
   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.ii:

     'Sure never were seen two such beautiful Ponies;
     Other Horses are Clowns—and these macaronies

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:

     Delicate lace ruffles fell over the lean yellow hands that were so overladen with rings. He had been a macaroni of the eighteenth century, and the friend, in his youth, of Lord Ferrars.

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     A small, noisy party of Fops, Macaronis, or Lunarians,—it is difficult quite to distinguish which,—has been working its way up the street.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:macaroni.

Synonyms

• (fop): See Thesaurus:dandy

Hyponyms

• elbow macaroni
• See also Thesaurus:pasta

Derived terms

• Chinese macaroni
• elbow macaroni
• holy macaroni
• macaroni and cheese
• macaroni and gravy
• macaroni cheese
• macaroni penguin
• macaroni pie
• macaroni salad
• macaroni wheat
• tenderoni

 

Related terms

• macaronic

Descendants

• → Japanese: マカロニ (makaroni)
• → Korean: 마카로니 (makaroni)
• → Scottish Gaelic: macaroni

Translations

type of pasta

• Arabic: مَكَرُونَة (ar) f (makarūna), مَعْكَرُونَة (ar) f (maʕkarūna)
• Armenian: մակարոն (hy) (makaron)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 通心粉 (tung¹ sam¹ fan²), 通粉 (tung¹ fan²)

  Mandarin: 通心粉 (zh) (tōngxīnfěn), 通心麵／通心面 (tōngxīnmiàn)

• Czech: makaróny m pl
• Dutch: macaroni (nl)
• Estonian: makaronid pl
• Finnish: makaroni (fi)
• French: macaronis (fr) m pl
• Georgian: მაკარონი (maḳaroni)
• German: Makkaroni (de) pl
• Greek: κοφτό μακαρονάκι n (koftó makaronáki)
• Hungarian: makaróni (hu), csőtészta (hu)
• Indonesian: makaroni (id)
• Italian: maccheroni m pl
• Japanese: マカロニ (ja) (makaroni)
• Korean: 마카로니 (ko) (makaroni)
• Latin: collȳra f
• Malay: makaroni, laksa geronggang (archaic)
• Maltese: imqarrun
• Norwegian: makaroni
• Persian: ماکارونی (fa) (mâkâroni)
• Polish: rurki (pl) nvir
• Portuguese: macarrão (pt) m
• Russian: макаро́ны (ru) f pl (makaróny), рожки́ (ru) m pl (rožkí) (one type)
• Scottish Gaelic: macaroni m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: макароне f pl

  Roman: makarone f pl

• Sicilian: maccarruna (scn) m pl
• Southern Altai: макарон (makaron)
• Spanish: macarrones pl
• Swedish: makaroner (sv) pl
• Turkish: makarna (tr)
• Ukrainian: макаро́ни f pl (makaróny)
• Vietnamese: macarôni, mì ống, mì ống cong
• Yiddish: מאַקאַראָנען pl (makaronen)

Adjective

macaroni (comparative more macaroni, superlative most macaroni)

1. (historical) Chic, fashionable, stylish; in the manner of a macaroni.

See also

• Wikipedia article on macaroni (pasta)
• Wikipedia article on macaronies

Etymology 2

From French macaron. Doublet of macaron.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mak.əˈɹəʊ.ni/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: măk'ə-rōʹnē, IPA^(key): /ˌmækəˈɹoʊni/
• Rhymes: -əʊni

Noun

macaroni (plural macaronis)

1. (obsolete) A macaroon.
   • 1777, Charlotte Mason, The lady's assistant for regulating and supplying her table: being a complete system of cookery, containing one hundred and fifty select bills of fare, properly disposed for family dinners ... with upwards of fifty bills of fare for suppers ... and several desserts: including likewise, the fullest and choicest receipts of various kinds ...‎^[1] (cooking), page 300:

     Macaroni. It comes from Italy. It is a biscuit made of almonds, eggs, flower, and sugar.

Anagrams

• Marciano, Marocain, armoniac, armonica, marocain

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

macaroni m (uncountable)

1. macaroni

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian maccaroni, obsolete variant of maccheroni (“macaroni”), plural of maccherone, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.ka.ʁɔ.ni/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

des macaronis

macaroni m (plural macaronis)

1. (usually in the plural) macaroni
2. (ethnic slur) wop; a person of Italian descent

Synonyms

• rital

Derived terms

• macaroni chinois

Further reading

• “macaroni”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• Marocain, marocain

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From English macaroni, from Italian maccheroni.

Noun

macaroni m

1. macaroni

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
macaroni	mhacaroni
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Spanish

Noun

macaroni m (plural macaronis)

1. macaroni

Derived terms

• pingüino macaroni