morbidezza

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Italian morbido

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin -itia

Italian -ezza

Italian morbidezzabor.

English morbidezza

Borrowed from Italian morbidezza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɔː(ɹ)bɪˈdɛtsə/

Noun

morbidezza (uncountable)

1. Softness, smoothness; also in a negative sense, weakness, effeminacy.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 20, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     Yea, when we forge its image in hir excellencie, we deck it with epithets of sickish and dolorous qualities: languor, effeminacy, weaknesse, fainting and Morbidezza, a great testimony of their consanguinity and consubstantiality.

2. (art) A naturalistic delicacy in flesh tones.

Italian

Etymology

From morbido +‎ -ezza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mor.biˈdet.t͡sa/
• Rhymes: -ettsa
• Hyphenation: mor‧bi‧déz‧za

Noun

morbidezza f (plural morbidezze)

1. softness, smoothness, tenderness, mellowness

Descendants

• → English: morbidezza

Further reading

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