# Italian

Pronunciation: say "eye-TAL-yuhn" /aɪˈtæliən/

## Adjective

1. Relating to or characteristic of Italy, its people, or its culture.
   - Simple: From Italy, or to do with Italy, its people, or its way of life.
   - _The Italian coastline draws millions of visitors every summer._
   - _Several Italian firms compete for the same export market._
5. Relating to or expressed in the language native to Italy.
   - Simple: Relating to the language that people speak in 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._

## Noun

2. A native or citizen of Italy, or someone of Italian descent.
   - Simple: A person from Italy, or someone whose family originally came from Italy.
   - _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._
3. A language with official status in Italy and speakers in San Marino, the Vatican, and parts of Argentina, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
   - Simple: The main language spoken in Italy and in a few nearby places.
   - _He translated the contract from Italian into English for the firm._
   - _Italian descends from Latin, like Spanish and French._
4. A style of cooking, or particular dishes, associated with Italy or Italian people.
   - Simple: Food cooked in the style of Italy, such as pasta or pizza.
   - _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._

## Adjective

6. Set in or using a sloping italic typeface; italic. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Written in a slanted style of letters, also called italic.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Short form of Italian sandwich. Chiefly in Maine.
- (noun) Short form of Italian vermouth.
- (noun) Short form of Italian cloth.

## Origin

Latin Italia ("Italy") gave Medieval Latin Italiānus, which reached Middle English as Italian.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/italian (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).