Punchinello

[puhn-chuh-nel-oh]

noun

plural

Punchinellos, Punchinelloes 

1. a grotesque or absurd chief character in a puppet show of Italian origin: the prototype of Punch.

2. any similarly grotesque or absurd person or thing.

Punchinello

/ ˌpʌntʃɪˈnɛləʊ /

noun

1. a type of clown from Italian burlesque or puppet shows, the prototype of Punch

2. (sometimes not capital) any grotesque or absurd character

Word History and Origins

Origin of Punchinello¹

1660–70; < Italian (Naples dial.) polecenella character in the puppet show, diminutive of polecana turkey-cock chick < Late Latin pullicēnus, derivative of Latin pullus pullet

Word History and Origins

Origin of Punchinello¹

C17: from earlier Polichinello, from Italian (Neapolitan dialect) Polecenella, from Italian pulcino chicken, ultimately from Latin pullus young animal

Example Sentences

The work features Punchinello, the hook-nosed, humpbacked clowns who were some of the stock characters taken from the Commedia dell' Arte - an early form of professional theatre.

Read more on BBC

The great series of Punchinello drawings initiated by that gossamer-handed Venetian, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and vastly elaborated by his son Giovanni Domenico, was conceived as both a caprice and a social farce, one we can identity with today: a vision of a world run by venal clowns.

Read more on New York Times

In profile she resembles a cute Punchinello, her cheeks expressive, painted, and the nose carved for comic effect.

Read more on Literature

Bleasdale, who then worked as a part-time waitress at a local Italian restaurant, Punchinello's in Chorley, showed an immediate aptitude for "flinging myself across a bar on a stick".

Read more on The Guardian

"I had to give up at Punchinello's but my sister still works there."

Read more on The Guardian

Related Words

• buffoon 
• comedian 
• comic 
• fool 
• jester 
• mime 
• prankster