Italian

See also: italian

English

Etymology

From Middle English Italian, from Medieval Latin Italiānus, from Latin Italia (“Italy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈtæliən/, enPR: ĭ-tăl'ē-ən

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (US, less common, see Eye-talian) IPA^(key): /aɪˈtæliən/, enPR: ī-tăl'ē-ən
• Rhymes: -æliən

Adjective

Italian (comparative more Italian, superlative most Italian)

1. Pertaining to Italy.

   Italian borders

2. Pertaining to its people or their cultures.

   Hypernym: European

   Italian cuisines

3. Pertaining to their language.

   Hypernym: Indo-European

   Italian verbs

4. (obsolete, not comparable) Using an italic style; italic.
   • 1868, Henry Noel Humphreys, A History of the Art of Printing, page 175:

     It has been shown that there was a great disposition on the part of some German printers, especially Albert Durer, to adopt the rounded Italian type; others preferring the crisp angularity of the Gothic black-letter, even for general purposes; while for books of devotion it appears to have been deemed the more orthodox; the Italian style of type being deemed an innovation.

Synonyms

• Italish

Derived terms

• anti-Italian
• Italian a
• Italian-American
• Italian bee
• Italian brainrot
• Italian brain rot
• Italian bread
• Italian cloth
• Italian cypress
• Italian dandelion
• Italian dressing
• Italian East Africa
• Italian Game
• Italian greyhound
• Italian ice
• Italian iron
• Italian ivy
• Italian juice
• Italian kale
• Italian millet
• Italian paste
• Italian Riviera
• Italian sighthound
• Italian Somaliland
• Italian stone pine
• Italian strawflower
• Italian strike
• Italian thistle
• Italian vermouth
• Sicilian Italian

Translations

of or pertaining to Italy

• Afrikaans: Italiaans (af)
• Albanian: italian (sq)
• Arabic: إِيطَالِيّ (ʔīṭāliyy)
• Armenian: իտալական (hy) (italakan)
• Asturian: italianu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: italyan
• Basque: italiar (eu)
• Belarusian: італья́нскі (italʹjánski)
• Bulgarian: италиа́нски (italiánski)
• Burmese: အီတလီ (ita.li)
• Carpathian Rusyn: талія́нськый (talijánsʹkŷj)
• Catalan: italià (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 意大利的 (zh) (Yìdàlì de), 意 (zh) (yì)

• Corsican: talianu (co), italianu (co)
• Czech: italský (cs), vlašský (cs)
• Danish: italiensk (da)
• Dutch: Italiaans (nl), Italiaanse (nl)
• Esperanto: itala (eo)
• Estonian: itaalia
• Farefare: itali
• Faroese: italskur
• Finnish: italialainen (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: étalien
• French: italien (fr)
• Friulian: talian
• Galician: italiano (gl)
• Georgian: იტალიური (iṭaliuri), იტალიელი (iṭalieli)
• German: italienisch (de)
• Greek: ιταλικός (el) (italikós)
• Hawaiian: ʻĪkālia
• Hebrew: אִיטַלְקִי (he) (italkí)
• Hindi: इतालवी (hi) (itālvī), इटालियन (hi) (iṭāliyan), इटली (hi) (iṭlī),
• Hungarian: olasz (hu)
• Icelandic: ítalskur (is)
• Ido: Italiana (io)
• Interlingua: italiano (ia)
• Irish: Iodálach (ga)
• Italian: italiano (it)
• Japanese: イタリアの (ja) (Itaria no), 伊 (ja) (い, i)
• Kashubian: italsczi
• Kazakh: италиян (italiän)
• Khmer: អ៊ីតាលី (km) (ʼiitaalii)
• Korean: 이탈리아의 (ko) (italliaui)
• Kyrgyz: италян (italyan), итальян (italyan)
• Lao: ອິຕາລີ (lo) (ʼi tā lī)
• Latin: italicus m, italus m (poetic), italis f (poetic), italiciānus, italiānus
• Latvian: itāļu, itāliešu, itālisks
• Lithuanian: itališkas
• Macedonian: италијански (italijanski)
• Malay: Itali (ms)
• Maltese: Taljan (mt)
• Maori: Itariana
• Marathi: इटालियन (iṭāliyan)
• Mòcheno: balsch
• Mongolian: итали (mn) (itali)
• Nauruan: Italionise
• Neapolitan: taliano
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: italiensk (no)

  Nynorsk: italiensk (nn)

• Occitan: italian (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: италїискъ (italiiskŭ)

• Pashto: ايټالوي (iṭalawí)
• Persian: ایتالیایی (fa) (itâliyâyi)
• Polish: włoski (pl)
• Portuguese: italiano (pt), ítalo (pt), itálico (pt)
• Romanian: italian (ro), italienesc (ro)
• Russian: италья́нский (ru) (italʹjánskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: Eadailteach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: италѝја̄нскӣ, талѝја̄нскӣ

  Roman: italìjānskī (sh), talìjānskī (sh)

• Slovak: taliansky (sk)
• Slovene: italijánski (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: włóski (hsb)

• Spanish: italiano (es)
• Swedish: italiensk (sv)
• Tagalog: Italyano (tl)
• Tajik: итолиявӣ (tg) (itoliyavi)
• Telugu: ఇటాలియను (iṭāliyanu)
• Thai: อิตาเลียน (ì-dtaa-liian), อิตาลี (th) (ì-dtaa-lîi)
• Turkish: İtalyan (tr)
• Turkmen: italýan
• Ukrainian: італі́йський (uk) (italíjsʹkyj)
• Urdu: اطالوی (ur) (itālvī)
• Uyghur: ئىتاليان (italyan)
• Uzbek: italyan (uz)
• Vietnamese: Ý (vi), Ý Đại Lợi
• Volapük: Litaliyänik (vo), (obsolete) Tälik
• Welsh: Eidalaidd
• Yiddish: איטאַליעניש (yi) (italyenish)
• Zhuang: Eiqdaihleih

of or pertaining to Italians

• Afrikaans: Italiaans (af)
• Armenian: իտալական (hy) (italakan)
• Asturian: italianu (ast)
• Bulgarian: италиански (italianski)
• Esperanto: itala (eo)
• Finnish: italialainen (fi)
• French: italien (fr)
• Galician: italiano (gl) m
• Georgian: იტალიური (iṭaliuri)
• German: italienisch (de)
• Hawaiian: ʻĪkālia
• Hindi: इतालवी (hi) (itālvī), इटालियन (hi) (iṭāliyan)
• Latin: italicus m, italis f (poetic), italus m (poetic)
• Latvian: itāliešu, itāļu, itālisks
• Malay: orang Itali, Itali (ms)
• Mòcheno: balsch
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: italiensk (no)

  Nynorsk: italiensk (nn)

• Polish: włoski (pl)
• Portuguese: italiano (pt), ítalo (pt), itálico (pt)
• Romanian: italian (ro), italienesc (ro), italic (ro)
• Spanish: italiano (es)
• Swedish: italiensk (sv)
• Telugu: ఇటాలియను (iṭāliyanu)
• Volapük: (♂♀) Litaliyänanik, (♂) hi-Litaliyänanik, (♀) ji-Litaliyänanik
• Yiddish: איטאַליעניש (yi) (italyenish)

of or pertaining to the Italian language

• Afrikaans: Italiaans (af)
• Armenian: իտալերեն (hy) (italeren)
• Asturian: italianu (ast)
• Bulgarian: италиански (italianski)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 義大利語 / 义大利语 (zh)

• Corsican: italianu (co), talianu (co)
• Esperanto: itala (eo), itallingva
• Finnish: italiankielinen (fi), italialainen (fi)
• French: italien (fr), italophone (fr)
• Galician: italiano (gl) m
• Georgian: იტალიური (iṭaliuri)
• German: italienisch (de), italienischsprachig (de), italienischsprachlich, italophon
• Hawaiian: ʻĪkālia
• Hindi: इतालवी (hi) (itālvī), इटालियन (hi) (iṭāliyan)
• Italian: italiano (it) m
• Latin: italicus m
• Latvian: itāļu, itāliešu, itālisks
• Malay: bahasa Itali, Itali (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: italiensk (no)

  Nynorsk: italiensk (nn)

• Polish: włoski (pl), włoskojęzyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: italiano (pt)
• Romanian: italian (ro), italienesc (ro)
• Spanish: italiano (es)
• Swedish: italiensk (sv)
• Tatar: италча (italça)
• Telugu: ఇటాలియను (iṭāliyanu)
• Volapük: Litaliyänapükik

Noun

Italian (countable and uncountable, plural Italians)

2. (countable) An inhabitant of Italy, or a person of Italian descent.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:Italian person

   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.

4. (uncountable) The official language of Italy, also spoken in San Marino, the Vatican, and parts of Argentina, Slovenia and Switzerland.
   • 2024 July 20, Fiona Sampson, “The other Dordogne: exploring France’s unspoiled Périgord region”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 September 2024:

     In Occitan a stroll, una passejada, is close to the Italian passeggiata, and a reminder of what a public business it is to amble these streets.

5. (uncountable, cooking) A style of cuisine or individual dishes of or associated with Italy or Italian people.
   • 1995, Betty Crocker's New Italian Cooking, page 5:

     Simple Cannoli, Lemon Ice, or a delicious Tira Mi Su. With so many wonderful recipes, you can eat Italian anytime.

6. (countable, textiles) Ellipsis of Italian cloth.
7. (uncountable) Ellipsis of Italian vermouth, a dark-colored sweet or mildly bitter vermouth.

   gin and Italian

   • 1971, John Doxat, The World of Drinks and Drinking, page 102:

     So the English women would have been interested in American drinks, and in came the gin-and-Italian, for example.

8. (countable, Maine) Ellipsis of Italian sandwich.

Meronyms

(language):

• Tuscan
  • Corsican

Derived terms

• Italian of the East
• Old Italian
• Sicilian Italian

Translations

inhabitant of Italy

• Afrikaans: Italianer
• Albanian: italian (sq) m
• Arabic: إِيطَالِيّ m (ʔīṭāliyy), إِيطَالِيَّة (ar) f (ʔīṭāliyya)
• Armenian: իտալացի (italacʻi)
• Aragonese: italián (an) m, italiana (an) f
• Asturian: italianu (ast) m, italiana (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: italyan, италјан
• Basque: italiar (eu)
• Belarusian: італья́нец m (italʹjánjec), італья́нка f (italʹjánka)
• Bengali: ইতালীয় (bn) (italiẏo)
• Breton: Italianeg
• Bulgarian: италиа́нец m (italiánec), италиа́нка f (italiánka)
• Catalan: italià (ca) m, italiana (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎠᎢᏔᎵ (aitali)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 意大利人 (zh) (yìdàlìrén)

• Corsican: talianu (co) m, taliana f, italianu (co) m, italiana f
• Czech: Ital (cs) m, Italka (cs) f
• Danish: italiener (da) c
• Dutch: Italiaan (nl) m, Italiaanse (nl) f
• Esperanto: italo, f italino
• Estonian: itaallane, itaallased pl
• Farefare: Italia-nẽra, Italga (ethnically)
• Finnish: italialainen (fi)
• French: Italien (fr) m, Italienne (fr) f
• Friulian: talian m
• Galician: italiano (gl) m, italiana f
• Georgian: იტალიელი (iṭalieli)
• German: Italiener (de) m, Italienerin (de) f
• Greek: Ιταλός (el) m (Italós), Ιταλίδα (el) f (Italída)

  Ancient: Ἰταλός m (Italós)

• Hawaiian: ʻĪkālia
• Hebrew: אִיטַלְקִי (he) (italkí)
• Hindi: इतालवी (hi) (itālvī), इटालियन (hi) (iṭāliyan)
• Hungarian: olasz (hu)
• Icelandic: Ítali (is) m
• Interlingua: italiano (ia) m, italiana f
• Italian: italiano (it) m, italiana (it) f
• Japanese: イタリア人 (ja) (いたりあじん, itariajin)
• Kazakh: италиялық (italiälyq)
• Korean: 이탈리아인 (italliain), 이태리인 (itaeriin), 이탈리아 사람 (itallia saram), 이태리 사람 (itaeri saram)
• Latin: italus m, itala f, italis f (poetic)
• Latvian: itālis m, itālietis, itāliete f
• Lithuanian: italas (lt) m, italė (lt) f
• Macedonian: Италијанец m (Italijanec), Италијанка f (Italijanka)
• Malay: orang Itali, Itali (ms)
• Maltese: Taljan (mt) m, Taljana f
• Neapolitan: taliano (nap) m, talianu m, taliana f, italianu m, italiana f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: italiener m

  Nynorsk: italienar (nn) m

• Occitan: italian (oc) m
• Persian: ایتالیایی (fa) (itâliyâyi)
• Polish: Włoch (pl) m pers, Włoszka (pl) f
• Portuguese: italiano (pt) m, italiana (pt) f, ítalo (pt) m, itálico (pt) m
• Romanian: italian (ro) m, italiancă (ro) f, italiană (ro) f
• Russian: италья́нец (ru) m (italʹjánec), италья́нка (ru) f (italʹjánka)
• Scottish Gaelic: Eadailteach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Италѝја̄н m, Талѝја̄н m, Италија́нац m, Талија́нац m, Италѝја̄нка m, Талѝја̄нка m

  Roman: Italìjān m, Talìjān (sh) m, Italijánac m, Talijánac (sh) m, Italìjānka f, Talìjānka f

• Sicilian: talianu (scn) m, taliana (scn) f, italianu m, italiana f
• Slovak: Talian (sk) m, Talianka (sk) f
• Slovene: Italijàn (sl) m, Italijánka f
• Spanish: italiano (es) m, italiana (es) f
• Swahili: Mwitalia, Mwitali
• Swedish: italienare (sv) c italienska (sv) c
• Telugu: ఇటాలియను (iṭāliyanu)
• Turkish: İtalyan (tr)
• Ukrainian: італі́єць (uk) m (italíjecʹ), італі́йка f (italíjka)
• Venetan: itaƚian (vec) m, itaƚiana (vec) f
• Vietnamese: người Ý (𠊛意)
• Volapük: (♂♀) Litaliyänan, (♂) hi-Litaliyänan, (♀) ji-Litaliyänan, (obsolete) Tälan
• Yiddish: איטאַליענער m (italyener)

language

• Afrikaans: Italiaans (af)
• Albanian: gjuha italiane
• Arabic: الإِيطَالِيَّة f (al-ʔīṭāliyya), اللُّغَة الإِيطَالِيَّة f (al-luḡa l-ʔīṭāliyya), إِيطَالِيّ m (ʔīṭāliyy) (colloquial)
• Aragonese: italián (an) m
• Armenian: իտալերեն (hy) (italeren)
• Asturian: italianu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: italyan, италјан
• Basque: italiera (eu)
• Belarusian: італья́нская мо́ва f (italʹjánskaja móva), італья́нская f (italʹjánskaja)
• Breton: Italianeg
• Bulgarian: италиански m (italianski)
• Catalan: italià (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎢᏔᎵ (itali)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 意大利文 (ji³ daai⁶ lei⁶ man⁵)

  Mandarin: 意大利語 / 意大利语 (zh) (yìdàlìyǔ)

• Cornish: Italek
• Corsican: talianu (co), italianu (co)
• Czech: italština (cs) f
• Danish: italiensk (da) n
• Dutch: Italiaans (nl)
• Esperanto: Itala
• Estonian: Itaalia (et)
• Farefare: italle, italne
• Faroese: italskt (fo) n
• Finnish: italia (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: étalien m, italien m
• French: italien (fr) m
• Galician: italiano (gl) m
• Georgian: იტალიური (iṭaliuri), იტალიური ენა (ka) (iṭaliuri ena)
• German: Italienisch (de) n
• Greek: ιταλικά (el) n pl (italiká)
• Greenlandic: italiamiutut
• Hebrew: אִיטַלְקִית (he) f (italkít)
• Hindi: इतालवी (hi) f (itālvī), इटालियन (hi) f (iṭāliyan)
• Hungarian: olasz (hu)
• Icelandic: ítalska (is) f
• Ido: Italiana (io)
• Indonesian: Bahasa Italia (id)
• Interlingua: italiano (ia)
• Irish: Iodáilis (ga)
• Italian: italiano (it) m
• Japanese: イタリア語 (ja) (イタリアご, itariago), 伊語 (ja) (いご, igo)
• Korean: 이탈리아어 (ko) (itallia'eo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Talyanî

• Latin: lingua italica, italicum n
• Latvian: itāļu valoda, itāliešu valoda f
• Limburgish: Ieteljaansj n
• Lithuanian: Italų, Itališkai
• Macedonian: италијански (italijanski)
• Malay: Itali (ms), bahasa Itali
• Maltese: it-Taljan (mt)
• Maori: reo Itariana
• Mapudungun: italia dungun
• Marathi: इटालियन (iṭāliyan)
• Mingrelian: იტალიური ნინა (iṭaliuri nina)
• Mòcheno: balsch
• Moksha: италиень (italijeń)
• Mongolian: итали (mn) (itali)
• Navajo: Doohatsʼíí Yátiʼ Dineʼé Bizaad
• Neapolitan: taliano (nap) m, talianu m italianu m
• Nepali: इटालियन (iṭāliyan)
• Norman: Italien m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: italiensk (no) m

  Nynorsk: italiensk (nn) m

• Occitan: italian (oc) m
• Persian: ایتالیایی (fa) (itâliyâyi)
• Polish: (język) włoski (pl) m
• Portuguese: italiano (pt)
• Romanian: italiană (ro) f
• Russian: италья́нский (ru) (italʹjánskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: Eadailtis f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (adjective) италѝја̄нскӣ m, талѝја̄нскӣ m

  Roman: (adjective) italìjānskī (sh) m, talìjānskī (sh) m

• Sicilian: talianu (scn) m, italianu m
• Sinhalese: ඉතාලි (itāli), ඉතාලි භාෂාව (itāli bhāṣāwa)
• Slovak: taliančina (sk)
• Slovene: italijánščina (sl) f
• Somali: Talyani
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: italšćina f

  Upper Sorbian: italšćina (hsb) f

• Spanish: italiano (es) m
• Swahili: Kiitaliano, Kiitalia
• Swedish: italienska (sv) c
• Tagalog: Italyano (tl)
• Tamil: இத்தாலியன் (ta) (ittāliyaṉ)
• Tarantino: tagliàne
• Tatar: италия (italiyä)
• Telugu: ఇటాలియను (iṭāliyanu)
• Thai: ภาษาอิตาลี
• Tigrinya: ጣሊያንኛ (ṭaliyanña)
• Turkish: İtalyanca (tr)
• Ukrainian: італі́йська (uk) f (italíjsʹka)
• Urdu: اطالوی (ur) (itālvī)
• Uzbek: italyancha (uz)
• Venetan: itaƚian (vec) m
• Vietnamese: tiếng Ý (vi) (㗂意)
• Volapük: Litaliyänapük (vo), (obsolete) Tälapük
• Walloon: itålyin (wa)
• Welsh: Eidaleg (cy)
• West Frisian: Italjaansk (fy)
• Yiddish: איטאַליעניש (yi) (italyenish)
• Zulu: Isintaliyane

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Italian terms
• Appendix:Italian Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Italian

Further reading

• ISO 639-1 code it, ISO 639-3 code ita (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Italian, ita ⁠

Anagrams

• Antilia, Taliani

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /italian/ [i.t̪a.li.ãn]
• Rhymes: -ian, -an
• Hyphenation: I‧ta‧li‧an

Proper noun

Italian

1. inessive indefinite of Italia

Finnish

Proper noun

Italian

1. genitive singular of Italia

Anagrams

• laitain, liaanit, litania