Etymology

pentito

P3E1N1T1I1T1O1

Today it means: A criminal who cooperates with police or government authorities and testifies against or provides harmful information on fellow criminals; a turncoat or informant, usually a former Mafioso. Full definition →

First used 20th c.Italian pentito
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Italian · borrowed frompentito“repentant”
  2. English todaypentito

Borrowed from Italian pentito (“repentant”).

First known use, by meaning

  • from 20th c. A criminal who cooperates with police or government authorities and testifies against or provides harmful information on fellow criminals; a turncoat or informant, usually a former Mafioso.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.