Italian Slang Dictionary: intro A B C D E F G I L M N O P Q R S T U V X Z
Introduction to Italian Slang
If you’re planning to live or travel in Italy, you might find it helpful to know what people are saying – much of which is not in polite phrasebooks! And sometimes it helps to be able to fire a few juicy phrases of your own. Select a letter above to go to the page of Italian swearwords starting with that letter.
- Subject to revision whenever the mood strikes me. If you have something you’d like to add or suggest or comment on, go here (where you can also see what others have suggested).
- Most of this useage is not for polite company. For milder slang and idiom, see this page.
- I live in northern Italy, so the useage described here may be specific to northern Italy, particularly Milan and Lombardy, unless otherwise noted. Your mileage may vary.
- Here’s a video of some common Italian hand gestures (many of them rude, along with pronunciation of some of the phrases below).
A Note on Blasphemy
Some of these words and phrases fall into the category of bestemmie (blasphemy): taking the Lord’s (or Jesus’ or Mary’s) name in vain. Be aware that these may be considered particularly offensive by some people.
Other rude words are simply called parolacce – “bad words.”
{ 143 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Gosh, if anyone can solve this one, we’ve been wondering for YEARS! what our Nana meant by this word: sounding out it is : “Git-a-pots-in-a. ” Nana would say it when something happened, maybe the water started to overboil on the stove and she’d say THAT word, walk quickly over, turn down the stove and stir the pasta. It sometimes sounded to us like, “get-the-pots-and-the”? Even my Aunt who’s 84 now, can’t remember what the word actually meant, but it was from Nana’s, side, the “Capotosto” side! (yes, hard-head!) I thought they were from near Bari? I can remember Nana saying the same thing after my Sis and I, about 8 and 4 years old were climbing her little apple tree in her back yard. Only BOYS did that! And she came over to the tree with her Son, my Dad and said, “Gitapotsina! Girls! now you come down out of there you’re going to get hurt!” She went ‘Tisk, tisk, tisk… I don’t know about you Son, letting your Girls climb around like monkeys there!” Our Dad replied, “this tree is nothing Mom, you should see the big maples and oaks they love to climb!” Our Mom gave our Dad the look! like really… you HAD to say THAT! now the Girls will be cooped up in here and forced to dry dishes, God Forbid they drop or break a dish! We only drove the 8 hours out there 2 times per year: Easter & Thanksgiving! Nana came East by train maybe 5 times? Our lifestyle was WAY too ‘modern’ for the likes of Nana. But it was just the late 1960′s and early 70′s? Well Nana still had the washing machine that you fed your clothes through a ‘ringer’, but not our little socks! They jammed her machine and Dad had to look high and low for a new or used part! Italian women do NOT like to part with their coveted machines, little cooking tools/devices (favorite egg beater), dishes and beverage glasses- separate ones, God Forbid! you used the same one! One type was for orange/any Juice only and one type of glass for Milk only! Nana still had her milk delivered to her front door step up until 1985! She lived not too far from “Mr. Roger’s”(from PBS)! If ANYONE can shed light on ‘Getapotsina’? I thank you very much in advance!!!
Rose
@Rose
I think that she says “getta ‘a pastina”. This means “throw the (small) pasta (in the water)”.
Hmm, hadn’t thought of that but I’ll bet you’re right. However, it’s probably used as a polite replacement, the way people say cavolo instead of cazzo. Not sure what she’d be substituting here, though – Gesu’, maybe?
@Rose
I’m an Italian mother tongue and I’m sure “Getapotsina” is actually “Ch’a t’possina…” (“May they…”) which is an euphemistic exclamation for some sort of surprise, shock and so. The comlpete sentence would be rather “strong”: “Ch’a t’possin’accid” (“May they kill you!”). This is not Italian, it’s some dialect from the south of Italy (say from Roma to Sicilia) which lacks of a grama and of any official spelling and therefore is to be writtten phonetically as I did.
My father who is now deceased used to recite an Itaian poen about a boy who ate an apple and choked on the seed. Does anyone else know this poem or did he take it to the grave?
My Dad’s family (Robuccio) use to use the word mudone or mud on which I thought mean, oh geesh or holy cow, whatever… does anyone know the word, how to spell in Italian and its meaning?? Thanks!
Rose, you made me think – could it have been “che ti possa succedere un’accidente” ?
@Alice and Letizia
Forgive me if I offend, but it is spelt
faccia brutte
I dont know if you were just spelling it for English speakers to read more easily. But for those who do not know, if it is ci or ce, it makes the “ch” sound, as in “faccia” (fah-CHEE-ah) or “arrivederci” (ah-ree-vah-der-CHEE). If you have a word that has a “k” sound followed by i or e, you spell it chi (key) or che (keh). It is kind of opposite to English. The H goes in where you DONT want the “ch” sound. Example “chiamo” (KEE-ah-mo).
The double consonants are also important in pronunciation. For instance in “brutte,” you pronounce it like (brute-tay). The “t” is sounded twice. Others would say it is not sounded out twice, so much as drawn out. Another way of explaining it even is that the first syllable ends with the “t” sound and the “t” sound also carries over to begin the second syllable. Sorry if I am overexplaining, but it can be hard to describe the sound if you are not hearing it. Hope this helps and doesnt offend.
Hi there, I’m trying to figure out how to spell a slang term my grandma used to call me when I was little — I think it meant “mischievous” or “mischief-maker” or “troublemaker.” Phonetically, it was “pus-ta-chone.” If anyone has any insight into how that’s spelled, I’d appreciate it! (If it helps, her family was from Alfadena, near Rome, I guess?) Thanks!
@ Debra: It was probably “marrone” which technically means chestnut; in slang it means “Sh*t!”
Anyone know the definition of the word “wagglio”
To Cortney could it of been spork-a-chone?
Vito,
The word “wagglio” is the phonetical transcription of “guaglione” that in Neapolitan, or for that matter, in many southern Italian dialects means “young boy”
Your answer to Cortney should be spelled “sporcaccione”. This term means litterally dirty boy or dirty minded boy.
I hope these explanations help…
Wagglio–is Neopolitan for young boy.
Che n’possa in a…. is a curse and usually the last word drifted away but meant, “May you drip blood,” and was often spoken with a gesture of the flattened hand being bitten at the thumb side. Gruesome!
And we survived!
Salut’
That expression about dripping blood was really scary when I was a boy. My Irish mother, Madiucc’ i.e. Mary , taught me about that one when I was young. My Italian side from the “old country” used many of those Italian slangs and growing up in New Jersey it wasn’t until I went to college with the”Medicans” that I realized everybody didn’t use or understand these Italian/ American words!!
Tom Melchiorre
Can anyone define the word Rogliolental?
Thanks fellas and gals.
-Vinny :] PS: Anyone know any garlic knott recipes? Hit me up.
Scattozza…which means hit you in the head! This is for rose
@CORTNEY
Is not “sporcaccione” cause we use it expecially for someone who make dirty things, for example an old sporcaccione, an old man who made dirty things. I think your grandma use the word “PASTICCIONE” someone who made a “pasticcio” something messy, like kids when playing and make chaos in the house destroying fornitures or the like.
@DEBRA ROBUCCIO
I’m sure your family use the word “MADONNA!” (mud-oh-nnah) is a synonim for Mary the Mother of Jesus. We use it a lot in Italy and it’s not a curse if you said it plain without something dirty attached.
@FOR ALL
Americans with Italian root maybe use words in dialect from their city of origin and not words in Italian Language that every Italian can understand. This is because here in Italia expecially in little towns (and there are more little towns than big city here) people talk in their dialects. But can be also that when they live their homeland they dont speak a correct Italian so they can talk only in dialect or broken Italian. A little bit like I’m writing now in english, please forgive me if I made mistakes but I have flu… it’s flu time in Italia now! Ciao a tutti
Ch’a t’possina….my mother followed with:
Spara (shoot you)
Matzza (kill you)
cachia occhio e ti metto in mano (poke out your eyes and put them in your hands)
colio un colpo scurro (get struck by a dark force)
And we are Ciocaro….and its hard-core dialect
@Rose, I always spelled it “Che te possano….”. Mom and Nonna use/used it often.
I’m italian. If you want know new bad words, call me
‘Che te possano..’ is too false. The true word is ‘Che te possino..’ ‘Che te pozzano..’ ‘Che te pozzino..’ ‘Te possano..’
looking for the meaning for scooch a menz
I am not fluent in Italian, but where I’m from “scooch a menz” means the equivalent of “pest and a half”.
Hey Everyone,
My Nonna had the BEST insult I’ve ever heard — it was Sicilian, existential and cruel. She’s gone now and I can’t remember it. It translated roughly as “You are nothing mixed with no one.” Any ideas?
Hello! 2nd generation italian here and damn proud of my heritage!! When I was a very small boy, I can remember a relative of mine, after banging their thumb with a hammer, saying something that sounded like “ma funds ah low”. Not trying to be vulger, but sincerely interested in my heratige, I was always facinated by what they were saying! Please, anyone who can shed some light on this, please do so!
My father told me of a word that my grandfather would call one of his relatives. He told me that it meant “uncle” but it “zio.” Does anybody know of some other words or phrases that also mean “uncle,” are there any colloquial terms for “uncle?”
Sorry, allow me to correct my grammar, I meant to type: the word he used was NOT “zio.”
what does madrone mean? like when something is wrong. im sure thats not the right spelling. “oh madrone!” thanks
My grandpa used to say “tu daysk” (phonetic) to me and my brothers when we were little, but we never knew or figured out what it meant. he said it meant ‘knucklehead’ by my mom insisted that it was worse. Any suggestions??
My friend uses a word that she says is Italian for “heartburn” or “upset stomach”. It sounds like .. agedous to me, a non-Italian. Help! She doesn’t know how to spell it.
Could be acido, which means acid and can be applied to the stomach.
The poster above is completely wrong about “marrone.” Completely.
That spelling is meant to represent how the Southern Italian immigrants pronounced the word Madonna – Madonn’.
As in “Madonna mia”, a VERY common expression of, alternately, wonder, horror, disapproval, excitement, etc.
It has nothing to do with chestnuts. Nothing.
The word is “agita.” It’s related to “agitation.” It can mean heartburn, literally, or mental agitation.
Sometimes spelled “agida.”
It is not “mudron” or anything like it, and certainly not “chestnut” (marrone) that people remember their relatives saying…it’s madonn’ short for Madonna, the mother of Jesus. Unbelievable that non one knows this…….duh, Italian culture is CATHOLIC!
My Sicilian Grandmother used the word Me-NAH-ga when something went wrong. Anyone know what that word means? I really appreciate the people logging in here and helping out!! it is wonderful. best regards
My southern Italian relatives used to use a word that sounded like “pizza da festa” to refer to someone stupid. I got the idea that it meant someone so dumb that he/she stood by and did nothing instead of acting.
Anyone have any ideas about this?
@Joe -I believe you’re referring to “mannaggia”, which means “damn!”. My dad used to say ” Mannaggia la” (= “Damn it”), sometimes adding on “madonnaccia” (which I assume is the pejorative version of “madonna!”).
He also used the word “chooch” (ciuccio), to describe someone he thought was a jackass.
My Dear Nonna, may she RIP, used to say the funniest thngs.
1. She used to say, when she was angry with us, (because we could be misbehaving brats sometimes), ” You sumanabitch, I’m a gonna killa you. and we used to run away and laugh so hard and then she would too.
2. She also used to say. “Mamma mia questa via” or something like that. Does any one know what it means? She used to say it when she was frustrated and I always thought it meant “Mamma mia, what I endure ( go through)!”
3. She also said mannaggia alot, among many other things.
For Rose regarding scattozza. It is from the verb scattare which means to explode and scattuzo describes someone who flies off the handle and has a hot temper. I know because it is a nickname of my family.
My Grandmother kived on a farm in Colorado and had to go down a gully to a stream to get water. It was a hard job carrying the water up hill. She said she used to sing “WELLA – WELLA – SAL-MA-BECH GO TO HELLA” all the way down and back.
Thank God for all the Italians that came to the U.S. worked at all the miserable jobs others would not and are finally gitting the credit they deserve.
roglia= leprosy
rogliolenta is a person with leprosy
Valeria-you are right in the interpretation of the words
Scattozza in the southern part of Italy is a person worth nothing
Pizza da festa= A retarded performing clown at a public celebration
TO the woman who wants to know what “Git-a-pots-ima” means : it sounds like your grandmother (nonna) was saying “That’s crazy….” Che pazza ( my mother is from Naples and we heard the most awful hard core insults growing up)
← Previous Comments
{ 2 trackbacks }