Italian

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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: ĭ-tăl'yən, IPA^(key): /ɪˈtæl.jən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (US, less common, see Eye-talian) IPA^(key): /aɪˈtæl.jən/, enPR: ī-tăl'yən
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /əˈtæl.jən/, /ɪˈtæl.jən/, /əˈtæ.jən/
• Rhymes: -æljən

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.

• Italish

Italian (countable and uncountable, plural Italians)

2. (countable) A person of a Romance ethnic group native to Italy.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:Italian person

   A tour group of Italians is visiting Westminster Cathedral today.

   • 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; various varieties (dialects) exist.

   Hyponyms: Corsican, Sicilian, Tuscan

   Coordinate term: Old Italian

   The tour group asked their questions in Italian, and their tour guide translated.

   • 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.

6. (uncountable, cooking) A style of cuisine or individual dishes of or associated with Italy or Italian people.

   A: What's for dinner tonight? B: I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some Italian tonight!

   • 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.

8. (countable, textiles) Ellipsis of Italian cloth.

   They bought a bolt of the finest Italian that can be had this side of Italy.

10. (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.

12. Ellipsis of Italian bread.

    Can I please get a meatball sub on Italian? Thank you!

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

    Can I please get an Italian and a beer? Thank you!

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

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

• Antilia, Taliani

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

Italian

1. inessive indefinite of Italia

Italian

1. genitive singular of Italia

• laitain, liaanit, litania