pasta

American  

[pah-stuh, pas-tuh] / ˈpɑ stə, ˈpæs tə /

noun

1. any of various flour-and-egg food preparations of Italian origin, made of thin, unleavened dough and produced in a variety of forms, usually served with a sauce and sometimes stuffed.

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pasta British  

/ ˈpæstə /

noun

1. any of several variously shaped edible preparations made from a flour and water dough, such as spaghetti

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Etymology

Origin of pasta

1870–75; < Italian < Late Latin. See paste

Explanation

Pasta is any Italian style of noodle, including spaghetti, ziti, and macaroni. Your favorite type of pasta might be fettuccine, especially when it's served in a creamy Alfredo sauce. Pasta refers to the noodle, or to the dish that contains it, like vegetable lasagna or spaghetti carbonara. Most pasta is made from semolina flour and water, and often eggs. The stiff dough is rolled very thin and then cut into shapes or long ribbons. It can be cooked from this soft, fresh state, or (more commonly) dried, packaged, and sold. Pasta is an Italian word (surprise, surprise), from Late Latin, which means "dough or paste."

Example Sentences

Pasta and tinned goods, she tells us, have become a key staple for the roughly 2,000 remaining population.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

Lil Pasta News told the BBC that the articles in question were not written by its team but received through an intermediary.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

Pasta has been eaten in southern Italy since the Middle Ages, when Sicily’s Arab overseers introduced the drying of dough as a form of preservation, according to Amadei.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 26, 2025

Hazel loves pasta, so we often go to Uovo Pasta, which has several locations in Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 27, 2025

He found the number for Little Italy Pizza and Pasta and ordered two hundred pizzas to be delivered to the school at 11:00 a.m.

From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty

Related Words

• gnocchi
• linguine
• macaroni
• ravioli
• spaghetti
• tortellini