panini
noun
a usually pressed and grilled sandwich of Italian bread filled with meat, cheese, vegetables, etc.
panini
1 American
[puh-nee-nee]
/ pəˈni ni /
Sometimes
panino
noun
-
panini,
plural
-
paninis
plural
Panini
2
American
[pah-nee-nee, pah-nee-nee]
/ ˈpɑ ni ni, pɑˈni ni /
panini
British
/ pæˈniːnɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of panini
First recorded in 1955–60; from Italian panini, plural of panino “a roll, sandwich,” diminutive of pane “bread,” from Latin pān- (stem of pānis ) “bread” + -ini, plural of diminutive suffix -ino, from Latin -īnus adjective suffix meaning “of or pertaining to, made of”; see -ine 1 ( def. )
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:
He also told us how to shape the roll so it didn’t become a panini.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
My panini press — a hulking little beast that has formally replaced my air fryer because I love a griddled sandwich that much — handles the job beautifully.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
Through the truck’s windows, a panini shop and a microblading clinic roll by.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025
"We then made a kind of quesadilla or panini where the bismuth is the cheesy filling and the tortillas are the atomically flat surfaces," said Wu.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024
Adam gets a hot dog, Libby gets a panini from a French bakery, and Amelia insists on going to the cheese place.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Suddenly, here we are, knee-deep in Panini swapsies, reeling off an all-star French attack, pointing out the flags and badges of all 48 nations.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
Allen, well known in the industry as Shyne150, privately spent $4 million on two Bryant 1-of-1 signed Panini Flawless Logoman cards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
Players past and present meanwhile feature in the first Panini darts sticker album launched this year.
From Barron's ● Dec. 30, 2025
Clark, who has endorsement deals with State Farm, Gatorade and Panini, also reportedly signed an eight-year, $28 million deal with Nike that includes a signature shoe.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
Did Namrata seriously just pull a fictional camp friend out of her ass and name him Hudson Panini?
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Essentially a massive skillet, a good griddle can just as easily turn out pancakes for breakfast, paninis for lunch, or, yes, chicken thighs for dinner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Stomach gnawing and hands slightly shaky, I loaded up on ephemera for fancy paninis, held together with swipes of giardiniera mayo, and splurged on some pastel-hued botanical sodas for drinking straight from the can.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2026
Ottimo had paninis and family dishes that served four, like tomato-braised and roasted whole chicken.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 9, 2023
Farther down Tsentralna, at the Flower Cafe — which sells plants and bouquets as well as food — proprietress Tetiana Lytvynenko, 33, was serving up paninis and coffee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2022
I worked the register like I did last Wednesday, but this week, I worked it on my own because Kaila’s stitches are out and she’s back to preparing beverages and making paninis and wraps.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
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.
