It doesn’t matter whether you’re learning a brand new language or looking to enhance your grasp of your native one, having a dictionary at hand is always useful for looking up new words and expanding your vocabolario (vocabulary). In Italian, this invaluable resource is called a dizionario, a word that sounds quite similar to its English counterpart.
dizionario
dictionary
The origin of dizionario, like the English dictionary, can be traced back to the medieval Latin dictionarium (manuale) or dictionarius (liber), meaning manual or book of words. It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles:
- il dizionario = the dictionary
- un dizionario = a dictionary
- i dizionari = the dictionaries
- dei dizionari = some dictionaries
Cerco sempre delle parole nuove nel dizionario.
I always look up new words in the dictionary.
In English, we have a specific word for a dictionary of synonyms, known as a thesaurus, whereas in Italian, it’s simply called a dizionario dei sinonimi e contrari (lit. dictionary of synonyms and antonyms). Below are some other kinds of dictionaries you might encounter.
- dizionario bilingue = bilingual dictionary
- dizionario illustrato = picture dictionary
- dizionario integrale = unabridged dictionary
- dizionario tascabile = pocket dictionary
- dizionario enciclopedico = encyclopaedic dictionary
- dizionario etimologico = etymological dictionary
But, of course, since you’re all studying Italian, the dictionary you’re most likely to need for your studies is a dizionario (bilingue) inglese-italiano, or for the more advanced students among you, a dizionario della lingua italiana without any English translations. To note that vocabolario and lessico are two popular synonyms for dizionario.
Many of these dictionaries are now available as dizionari online (online dictionaries) or dizionari digitali (digital dictionaries) which you can access from your computer or from an app on your phone.
Ho usato un dizionario per tradurre questa parola.
I used an online dictionary to translate this word.
One of the most important verbs you need to learn when discussing dictionaries in Italian is cercare, which means to look for or to seek, as well as to try. However, in this specific case, it means to look up (a word).
Cerca la parola nel dizionario!
Look the word up in the dictionary!
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
