piccata

P3I1C3C3A1T1A1
/pɪˈkɑːtə/

adjective

Sliced, sautéed and served with lemon, parsley and butter sauce.

RareScrabble 13

Meanings

adjectivepiccata (not comparable)
  1. not comparablecookingSliced, sautéed and served with lemon, parsley and butter sauce.

    Rattle-snake piccata with grapes and figs, old Brown Betty with a yellow wig […]

    1999, Tom Waits, Filipino Box Spring Hog
nounpiccata (plural piccatas)

plural piccatas

  1. A dish of food sliced, sautéed and served with lemon, parsley and butter sauce; or an individual slice of such a dish.

    Maybe you've been put off by all the syllables that hang around veal. The saltimboccas, parmigianas, piccatas and scaloppines. Well, it's a ruse. In fact, veal is very simple food.

    1990, Cincinnati Magazine, volume 23, number 5
    1 more example

    “(grunts) Frankie put glass in the piccata and the restaurant comped us, so we got all these chips. Let's hit the casino.” “All right.” “Come on, Nadia. Let's go watch this Rat Pack show with the girls.” “Did you say "the Rat Pack"?” “Yeah, they're good.” “They're here?” “Yeah, yeah, it's the Rat Pack.” “Chips ahoy!”

    2021 September 16, Sarah Naftalis, “The Casino” (6:40 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Sean Rinaldi (Anthony Atamanuik)

Origin

  1. Italianpiccata“larded”
  2. Englishpiccata

From Italian piccata (“larded”), past participle of piccare (“to prick; to lard”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

piccata. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/piccata

MLA

“piccata.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/piccata. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “piccata,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/piccata.

Source: piccata on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.