zucchetto

American  

[zoo-ket-oh, tsook-ket-taw] / zuˈkɛt oʊ, tsukˈkɛt tɔ /

noun

plural

zucchettos,

plural

zucchetti

1. a small, round skullcap worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, a priest's being black, a bishop's violet, a cardinal's red, and the pope's white; calotte.

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zucchetto British  

/ zuː-, suː-, tsuːˈkɛtəʊ /

noun

1. RC Church a small round skullcap worn by certain ecclesiastics and varying in colour according to the rank of the wearer, the Pope wearing white, cardinals red, bishops violet, and others black

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Etymology

Origin of zucchetto

1850–55; < Italian, variant of zucchetta, diminutive of zucca gourd, head, perhaps < pre-Indo-European *tjukka gourd

Example Sentences

Fiennes’ dome may be closely shorn, but his Cardinal packs plenty of blackmail material underneath his zucchetto.

From Salon

So when a photo surfaced this weekend, just before the fifth Sunday of Lent, of Pope Francis in a long, white, trendy-looking puffer coat with his traditional pectoral cross and white zucchetto cap, it’s not hard to imagine what happened next: People went wild.

From Washington Post

The boy several times pointed to the pope's white skull cap, known as a zucchetto.

From Reuters

Marissa Zucchetto got the shutout.

From Seattle Times

Wojnowski got excited when he saw the flash of a violet zucchetto — the skullcap worn by a bishop — through a car window and raised his giant sign like a barbell and waved it back and forth with uncanny strength and control.

From Washington Post