Italian

[ih-tal-yuhn]

adjective

1. of or relating to Italy, its people, or their language.

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Italy, or a person of Italian descent.

2. a Romance language, the language of Italy, official also in Switzerland. It, It., Ital.

Italian

/ ɪˈtæljən /

noun

1. the official language of Italy and one of the official languages of Switzerland: the native language of approximately 60 million people. It belongs to the Romance group of the Indo-European family, and there is a considerable diversity of dialects

2. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of Italy, or a descendant of one

3. See Italian vermouth

adjective

1. relating to, denoting, or characteristic of Italy, its inhabitants, or their language

Pronunciation Note

The pronunciation of Italian with an initial sound (pronounced like the word eye ) and often with level stress on the first and second syllables: is heard primarily from uneducated speakers. This pronunciation is sometimes facetious or disparaging in purpose and is usually considered offensive.

Other Word Forms

• Italianesque adjective
• anti-Italian adjective
• half-Italian adjective
• non-Italian adjective
• pro-Italian adjective
• pseudo-Italian adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Italian¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Medieval Latin word Italiānus. See Italy, -an

Example Sentences

Add salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, Italian seasoning, whatever you’re in the mood for.

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The foundation, created in 2021 by French, Italian and Swiss universities and research centres, has already collected several cores in the Alps, Greenland, the Andes and elsewhere.

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Celebrated annually on the second Monday of October, Columbus Day is a federal holiday that honors the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

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Now a group of Italian researchers have shown that the biological changes induced by a ketogenic diet may help them to escape from the long-lasting effects of stress experienced in the womb.

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“This wording, like going from minister of defense to minister of war — let’s hope it’s just a figure of speech,” he recently said in Italian.

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