capriccio

English

A. Salucci, Capriccio (c. 1650)

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian capriccio. Doublet of caprice.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈpriːt͡ʃoʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

capriccio (plural capriccios or capricci)

1. A sudden and unexpected or fantastic motion; a caper (from same etymology, see below); a gambol; a prank, a trick.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prank

2. A fantastical thing or work.

   Synonyms: caprice; see also Thesaurus:whim

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 239, column 2:

     Will this Capricio hold in thee, art ſure?

   • 1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 10:

     If any Man for that reaſon has an Inclination to divert himſelf, and Sail with me round the Globe, to ſuperviſe almoſt all the Conditions of Humane Life, without being infected with the Vanities, and Vices that attend such a Whimſical Perambulation; let him follow me, who am going to Relate it in a Stile, and Language, proper to the Variety of the Subject: For as the Caprichio came Naturally into my Pericranium, I am reſolv’d to purſue it through Thick and Thin, to enlarge my Capacity for a Man of Buſineſs.

3. (painting) A type of landscape painting that places particular works of architecture in an unusual setting.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     Above the drawing-room fireplace there was a painting by Guardi, a capriccio of Venice in a gilt rococo frame […]

4. (music) A piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character.
   • 1909, O. Henry, “The Renaissance at Charleroi”, in Roads of Destiny‎^[1]:

     The stillness returned, save for the little voices of the night—the owl's recitative, the capriccio of the crickets, the concerto of the frogs in the grass.

Related terms

• a capriccio
• capriccietto

Translations

type of painting

• Finnish: capriccio-maalaus
• Italian: capriccio (it) m

piece of music

• Afrikaans: capriccio
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隨想曲／随想曲 (suíxiǎngqǔ)

• Finnish: kapriisi
• French: capriccio (fr) m
• Italian: capriccio (it) m
• Japanese: 奇想曲 (ja) (きそうきょく,kisōkyoku), 綺想曲 (きそうきょく,kisōkyoku)
• Serbo-Croatian: capriccio (sh) m
• Turkish: kapriçyo (tr)

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “capriccio”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

• capriccio (art) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• capriccio (music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Afrikaans

Etymology

Either from Dutch capriccio or from English capriccio, ultimately from Italian capriccio.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: cap‧ri‧ccio

Noun

capriccio (plural capriccios)

1. (music) capriccio

Italian

Etymology

From earlier caporiccio, from capo +‎ riccio, literally “curly head”. People believed that curly hair was a sign for a capricious and unruly character.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈprit.t͡ʃo/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ittʃo
• Hyphenation: ca‧prìc‧cio

Noun

capriccio m (plural capricci)

1. whim, fancy, caprice, quirk
2. tantrum

   Synonym: bizza

3. (music, painting) capriccio

Related terms

• capriccioso
• incapricciarsi

Descendants

• → English: capriccio
• → French: caprice
  • → Danish: kaprice
  • → English: caprice
  • → German: Caprice
  • → Romanian: capriciu
  • → Russian: каприз (kapriz)
  • → Turkish: kapris
• → Spanish: capricho
  • → Catalan: capritx
  • → Cebuano: kapritso
  • → Tagalog: kapritso

Further reading

• capriccio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana