puttanesca

put·ta·nes·ca
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UK/ˌpʊtəˈnɛskə/US/ˌputəˈnɛskə/

noun

A cooking sauce made from tomato flavoured with garlic, anchovies, capers and olives, created in Naples.

“spaghetti puttanesca”

OriginItalian puttanesca →
RareScrabble 14
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Meanings

nounputtanesca (usually uncountable, plural puttanescas)

plural puttanescas

  1. uncountableusuallyA cooking sauce made from tomato flavoured with garlic, anchovies, capers and olives, created in Naples.
adjectiveputtanesca (not comparable)
  1. not comparablepostpositionalusuallyServed with puttanesca sauce.

    spaghetti puttanesca

Origin

  1. Italianputtanesca
  2. Englishputtanesca

Borrowed from Italian puttanesca (feminine of puttanesco, literally “whorish, sluttish”), from puttana (“whore”).

More words from Italian

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with puttanesca

francesca
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

puttanesca. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puttanesca

MLA

“puttanesca.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puttanesca. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “puttanesca,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puttanesca.

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