lasagna
Americannoun
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large, flat, rectangular strips of pasta.
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a baked dish consisting of layers of this pasta, cheese, tomato sauce, and usually meat.
Etymology
Origin of lasagna
1840–50; < Italian < Vulgar Latin *lasania cooking pot (hence, apparently, the contents of the pot), for Latin lasanum, lasanus chamber pot < Greek lásana (plural), originally, trivet or stand for a pot
Explanation
If you want to be the star of the potluck, bring a big pan of lasagna. Layers of tender noodles, savory red sauce, creamy ricotta, and melty mozzarella will tempt almost everyone. Lasagna is the name for both a type of wide, flat pasta and the delicious dish you make by layering that pasta with other ingredients and baking. This Italian word can also be spelled lasagne, which is actually its plural form. The earliest known lasagna recipe dates from the 1500s, when historians describe it being made from fermented dough, spices, and cheese.
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.
“Well, you could add it to your makeshift lasagna, for health and longevity.”
From Slate • May 6, 2026
Aluminum trays of pasta bakes: lasagna, baked spaghetti, manicotti, stuffed shells.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026
And then there’s a lasagna that’s just, like, full-on.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025
Highlights included moussaka, a layered eggplant dish with well-seasoned meat and creamy béchamel, and pastitsio, a Greek-style lasagna that did not disappoint.
From Salon • Sep. 3, 2025
There were only two things that were really clear about all this, and both of them made me feel like Mrs. Smith’s lasagna was going to come right back up again.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
