capriccio

Borrowed from Italian capriccio.

capriccio (plural capriccios or capricci)

1. A sudden and unexpected or fantastic motion; a caper (from same etymology, see below); a gambol; a prank, a trick.
2. A fantastical thing or work; a caprice.
   • c. 1604–1605, Shakespeare, William, All's Well That Ends Well, Act 2, Scene 3:

     Will this capriccio hold in thee, art sure?

3. A type of landscape painting that places particular works of architecture in an unusual setting.
   • 2005, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, (Bloomsbury Publishing, paperback, page 5)

     Above the drawing-room fireplace there was a painting by Guardi, a capriccio of Venice in a gilt rococo frame […]

4. A piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character.

• (a sudden motion): see Thesaurus:prank
• (a fantastical thing): see Thesaurus:whim

• “capriccio” in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

From the Italian expression capo +‎ riccio, literally “curly head”. People believed that curly hair was a sign for a capricious and unruly character.[1]

capriccio m (plural capricci)

1. whim, fancy, caprice, quirk
2. tantrum
3. (music, painting) capriccio

• (tantrum): bizza

• capriccioso
• incapricciarsi