Italian

From Medieval Latin Italiānus, from Italia (“Italy”)

• enPR: ĭtălʹyən, IPA^(key): /ɪˈtæljən/

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• IPA^(key): /ˌaɪˈtæljən/ (less common)

Italian (comparative more Italian, superlative most Italian)

1. Pertaining to Italy, its people or its language.
2. (obsolete, not comparable) Using an italic style; italic.
   • 1868, Henry Noel Humphreys, A History of the Art of Printing, page 175:

     It has been shown that there was a great disposition on the part of some German printers, especially Albert Durer, to adopt the rounded Italian type; others preferring the crisp angularity of the Gothic black-letter, even for general purposes; while for books of devotion it appears to have been deemed the more orthodox; the Italian style of type being deemed an innovation.

• Italish

• Italian cloth
• Italian dressing
• Italian ice
• Italian iron
• Italian juice

Italian (countable and uncountable, plural Italians)

1. (countable) An inhabitant of Italy, or a person of Italian descent.
   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎:

     As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.

   Synonyms: Eyetie, greaseball, goombah, guido, guinea, wop

2. (uncountable) The official language of Italy, also spoken in San Marino, the Vatican, and parts of Switzerland.
3. (uncountable, cooking) A style of cuisine or individual dishes of or associated with Italy or Italian people.
   • 1995, Betty Crocker's New Italian Cooking, page 5:

     Simple Cannoli, Lemon Ice, or a delicious Tira Mi Su. With so many wonderful recipes, you can eat Italian anytime.

4. (uncountable, textiles) A type of linen or cotton cloth with satin finish used primarily for linings, Italian cloth.
5. (uncountable) Italian vermouth, a dark-colored, sweet or mildly bitter vermouth.

   gin and Italian

   • 1971, John Doxat, The World of Drinks and Drinking, page 102:

     So the English women would have been interested in American drinks, and in came the gin-and-Italian, for example.

• Old Italian

• Wiktionary's coverage of Italian terms
• Appendix:Italian Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Italian

• ISO 639-1 code it, ISO 639-3 code ita
• Ethnologue entry for Italian, it

Italian

1. Genitive singular form of Italia.

• laitain, liaanit, litania