amaretto

[am-uh-ret-oh, ah-muh-]

noun

an Italian liqueur with a slightly bitter almond flavor.

Origin of amaretto

1975–80; < Italian, diminutive of amaro bitter < Latin amārus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for amaretti

amaretti

pl n

Italian almond biscuits

Word Origin for amaretti

C20: from Italian amaro bitter

amaretto

noun

an Italian liqueur with a flavour of almonds

Word Origin for amaretto

C20: from Italian amaro bitter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for amaretti

Amaretto

Italian almond-flavored liqueur, 1945 (the original brand, Amaretto di Saronno, dates to 1851), from the Italian word for almond (q.v.), which did not acquire the excrescent -l- of the English word. Sometimes confused with amoretto. Amoroso (literally "lover"), a type of sweetened sherry, is attested from c.1870.