Incantevole is a beautiful Italian word used to characterise a person, place, or thing that exudes enchantment or charm.
incantevole
enchanting / charming
It is derived from the verb incantare, meaning “to enchant” or “to bewitch”, which in turn comes from the Latin incantare, a derivative of cantare (“to sing”) with the prefix in-.
Being an adjective ending in -e, incantevole maintains the same form in both its masculine and feminine versions. However, in the plural form for either gender, the -e transforms into -i.
- il luogo incantevole = the enchanting place (masculine, singular)
- la persona incantevole = the charming person (feminine, singular)
- i luoghi incantevoli = the enchanting places (masculine, plural)
- le persone incantevoli = the charming people (feminine, plural)
Questo posto è davvero incantevole!
This place is truly enchanting!
Some etymologically related terms in Italian include:
- incanto = “enchantment” or “charm” but also “auction“
- incantato = enchanted
- incantatore and incantatrice = charmer
- incantesimo = magic spell
A few common synonyms include delizioso (delightful), favoloso (fabulous), ammaliante (bewitching), and seducente (seductive).
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.
