spaghetti

Where does the word "spaghetti" come from? It comes from Italian spago, passing through Italian before entering English (1800s).

Spaghetti’s story begins in Italian: spago meant “string, twine.” Meaning "string" or "twine". Within Italian, it grew into spaghetti by 1800s. A plural diminutive, describing thin string-like pasta. It reached English by 1800s as spaghetti. Italian 'little strings', from 'spago', string; 'spaghetti western' dates from the 1960s. Today, spaghetti means long, thin strands of pasta.

1. Stage 1 · Italian · medieval spago "string, twine", meaning "string" or "twine".
2. Stage 2 · Italian · 1800s spaghetti "thin string-shaped pasta", a plural diminutive, describing thin string-like pasta.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1800s spaghetti "long thin pasta strands", Italian 'little strings', from 'spago', string; 'spaghetti western' dates from the 1960s.