cannoli

Where does the word "cannoli" come from? It comes from Italian cannolo, and was adopted directly into English (1930s).

Cannoli’s story begins in Italian: cannolo meant “a little tube.” Literally a little tube, a diminutive of canna (a reed, a tube). It reached English by 1930s as cannoli. Sicilian 'little tubes', traditionally made for Carnival in Palermo. Today, cannoli means a Sicilian pastry shaped like a tube, filled with sweetened ricotta cheese.

1. Stage 1 · Italian · medieval cannolo "a little tube", literally a little tube, a diminutive of canna (a reed, a tube).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1930s cannoli "a tube-shaped pastry filled with sweet cheese", Sicilian 'little tubes', traditionally made for Carnival in Palermo.