Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

bambino

American  
[bam-bee-noh, bahm-, bahm-bee-naw] / bæmˈbi noʊ, bɑm-, bɑmˈbi nɔ /

noun

  • bambinos,
    plural
  • bambini
    plural
  1. a small child or baby.

  2. an image of the infant Jesus.


bambino British  
/ bæmˈbiːnəʊ /

noun

  1. informal a young child, esp an Italian one

  2. a representation of the infant Jesus

"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

Usage

What does bambino mean? Bambino is the Italian word for a "male child or baby." It can also be used as a nickname or term of endearment for a man more generally.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of bambino

1755–65; < Italian, equivalent to bamb ( o ) childish (perhaps originally nursery word) + -ino diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

She claims she even uses words and mannerisms such as "mamma mia", "bambino" and "si" in conversation without realising it.

From BBC Dec. 22, 2024

Michelangelo: I’m lookin’ at your paintings and I gotta say I see no Real diff’rence from the scribbles of a one-armed bambino.

From Washington Post Apr. 2, 2020

First, Andrea Pirlo doing the Panenka penalty on the gurning, arms-flapping, Grobbelaar-impersonating Joe Hart, a moment of beauty that was missing only the words: "Ciao, bambino".

From The Guardian Jun. 7, 2014

He had conducted it in his Rio de Janeiro debut almost 63 years ago as a beardless bambino, and in his U.S. debut at Manhattan's Met in 1908.

From Time Magazine Archive

"I think he's a duck of a bambino," she said.

From Cinderella Jane by Marjorie Benton Cooke

Fran Cornetta shared on Facebook that pastina was the "transition from liquids to solids" for her and all the bambini in her family.

From Salon Jan. 11, 2023

The bambini – three boys aged seven, six and four – looked either adorable or a bit of a handful, depending on how much you knew about kids.

From The Guardian Oct. 18, 2014

Pinocchio was originally published serially in the weekly Giornale dei bambini, the “newspaper for kids,” where it gained a large following.

From Slate Oct. 24, 2011

Thousands of Romans, terrified by accounts of R.A.F. bombings in Naples, took their bambini into Vatican City, where they crowded together ten to 15 in a room.

From Time Magazine Archive

And so off they go, the young men and women and the young families and the little bambini, leaving the old peoples behind to bend for themselves.

From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech

Where bambinos, billy goats and boogeymen curse entire teams.

From Seattle Times May 15, 2024

Two of the toughest bambinos in Italy came in: >The biggest political job was given to a man with no political but plenty of military fame, a 37-year-old child of iron named Ettore Muti.

From Time Magazine Archive

Why do so many bambino-loving Italians find that they cannot afford to have more bambinos?

From Time Magazine Archive

Of both bambinos and signorinas II Duce was judge.

From Time Magazine Archive

And his aid in those long corridors, where bambinos smiled down at her with childish lips, helped her wondrously to understand in so short a time what they sought to convey to her.

From The Woman Who Did by Grant Allen

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training