macaroni

macaroni · noun, adjective¹

1. Spanish · derived frommacuquino
2. Latin · derived frommaccāre
3. Ancient Greek · derived fromμάκαρ“blessed; favored by the gods”
4. Medieval Greek · derived fromμακαρία“food made from barley”
5. Italian · borrowed frommaccaroni
6. English todaymacaroni

From Italian maccaroni (plural of maccarone (archaic variant of maccheroni (“fool”))), of uncertain origin. Variously derived from late Medieval Greek μακαρία (makaría, “food made from barley”), from Ancient Greek μάκαρ (mákar, “blessed; favored by the gods”), or from maccare (archaic variant of ammaccare (“to bruise; to crush”)), from Latin maccāre of the same meaning. Compare Sicilian maccarruni (“a single piece of macaroni”). * As a fop, apparently from the British Macaroni Club rather than from Italian use of maccarone for fools and bumpkins. * As a former form of currency, used to calque Spanish macuquino (18th-century colonial slang for a similarly clipped coin).

macaroni · noun²

1. French · borrowed frommacaron
2. English todaymacaroni

From French macaron. Doublet of macaron.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 18th c. A type of pasta in the form of short tubes, typically boiled and served in soup, with a sauce, or in melted cheese; a dish of this.
• from 17th c. Pasta, particularly thicker noodles, spaghetti.
• 17th c. Synonym of gnocchi (“Italian dumpling made of potato or semolina”).
• from 17th c. A dandy or fop, particularly in the 18th century a young Englishman who had travelled in Europe and subsequently dressed and spoke in an ostentatiously affected Continental manner.
• from 19th c. A 19th-century quarter-silver dollar coin, typically a full 2-real coin or a quarter clipping of an 8-real coin from Central or South America.
• from 19th c. Ellipsis of macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus).
• from 19th c. Synonym of Italian (“a person from Italy or of Italian ethnicity”).
• from 19th c. Ellipsis of macaroni tool.