Meanings
plural Italian sandwiches
- MaineUSespeciallyA type of submarine sandwich consisting of Italian bread or French bread sliced lengthwise, filled with salami or ham with cheese and onion.
Synonyms: Italian sub, Italian sub sandwich, Italian submarine sandwich
- USbroadlyAny submarine sandwich.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of submarine sandwich consisting of Italian bread or French bread sliced lengthwise, filled with salami or ham with cheese and onion.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
The sandwich was invented in Portland, Maine, in 1903 by Giovanni Amato, an Italian-American baker.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish täytetty sämpylä, often named according to the filling
- täytetty sämpylätype of sandwich
- often named according to the fillingtype of sandwich
- see e.g. kinkkusämpylätype of sandwich
Cite this entry
Italian sandwich. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Italian%20sandwich
“Italian sandwich.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Italian%20sandwich. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Italian sandwich,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Italian%20sandwich.
Source: Italian sandwich on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.