Italian
Noun pluralItalians
PluralItalians
- 1Relating to or characteristic of Italy, its people, or its culture.
The Italian coastline draws millions of visitors every summer.
Several Italian firms compete for the same export market.
UsageWritten with a capital letter: Italian food (not
incorrect: italian food).Note
Unlike the old typographic use, it is gradable: a thing can be more Italian or the most Italian of all. That is a way of saying how strongly it carries the stamp of Italy, not merely where it comes from.
- 2A native or citizen of Italy, or someone of Italian descent.
My neighbor is an Italian who moved to Boston twenty years ago and still flies home every summer.
Thousands of Italians emigrated to the Americas in the early twentieth century.
Note
Sports reporting leans on this noun as a second name for someone already introduced. In Phil McNulty's 2012 BBC Sport report on Chelsea's 2-1 win over Liverpool, Di Matteo becomes simply "the Italian." The device saves repeating a surname, but it works only once the reader knows who is meant.
- 3A language with official status in Italy and speakers in San Marino, the Vatican, and parts of Argentina, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
He translated the contract from Italian into English for the firm.
Italian descends from Latin, like Spanish and French.
UsageUsed with no article: speak Italian, translate into Italian, written in Italian.
- 4A style of cooking, or particular dishes, associated with Italy or Italian people.
When the family can't agree on dinner, Italian is the one choice that makes everyone happy.
Tonight she felt like making Italian, so she rolled out fresh pasta.
UsageUsually with no article after eat, make or order: eat Italian, order Italian tonight.
Note
A kitchen and menu word that works like a category name. Betty Crocker's New Italian Cooking promises that "you can eat Italian anytime." The word can mean the whole cuisine or just the meal on the table tonight. The surrounding context tells you which.
- 5Relating to or expressed in the language native to Italy.
Italian pronunciation is fairly regular, since most words are said the way they are spelled.
Several Italian loanwords, like 'piano' and 'tempo,' turn up constantly in musical notation.
Less common meanings
- 6Set in or using a sloping italic typeface; italic.
Note
A printer's word that has dropped out of use. Where English now says italic, earlier writers could call a typeface Italian. Older histories of printing also say Italian type for rounded roman letters set against Gothic black-letter, so context decides. It never takes more or most. In modern prose, use italic instead, which avoids any clash with the national sense.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Italian historically meant italic in typography. en.wiktionary.org
- Henry Noel Humphreys wrote A History of the Art of Printing, first published in 1867. en.wikipedia.org
- Humphreys contrasts the quoted rounded Italian type with the crisp angularity of Gothic black-letter. archive.org
- In context, Humphreys's rounded Italian type is roman type. The quotation does not illustrate the sloping italic sense. archive.org
- 7Short form of Italian sandwich. Chiefly in Maine.
- 8Short form of Italian vermouth.
- 9Short form of Italian cloth.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Latin Italia ("Italy") gave Medieval Latin Italiānus, which reached Middle English as Italian.