pizzica

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noun

A popular traditional dance of Italy, originating on the Salento peninsula.

OriginItalian pizzica →
Scrabble 29
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Meanings

nounpizzica (countable and uncountable, plural pizzicas)

plural pizzicas

  1. countableuncountabledanceA popular traditional dance of Italy, originating on the Salento peninsula.

    With strings, accordion, flute and lots of tambourine, it pays particular attention to the pizzica, a galloping six-beat dance related to the tarantella and long used as a faith-healing cure for spider bites.

    2007 January 19, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times

Origin

  1. Italianpizzica
  2. Englishpizzica

Unadapted borrowing from Italian pizzica, from the verb pizzicare (“to pinch”). Compare pizzicato.

More words from Italian

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Capizzi
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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