While listening to Radio Italia, a word caught my attention during a report about how Germans no longer embody the Protestant work ethic as strongly as they did just a few years ago. That word was stacanovista—the Italian term for a workaholic.
stacanovista
workaholic / hard worker
![](https://dailyitalianwords.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/stacanovista-1-778x778.jpg)
This word derives from the noun stacanovismo (or stachanovismo), which refers to a system in the former Soviet Union that incentivised productivity by rewarding efficient workers. Those who identified as Stakhanovites modelled their work ethic after the legendary productivity of Alexei Stakhanov, a Russian coal miner.
While the movement itself has long since died out, the term has endured in many languages, often used to describe someone who is exceptionally hardworking—often to the point of being a workaholic—or overly zealous in their efforts.
Stacanovista can function as either an adjective or noun. The -a ending remains the same regardless of whether you are talking about a man or woman, but in the plural, the endings become -i and -e respectively.
- il lavoratore stacanovista = the hard-working male worker
- la lavoratrice stacanovista = the hard-working female worker
- i lavoratori stacanovisti = the hard-working male workers
- le lavoratrici stacanoviste = the hard-working female workers
- lo stacanovista = the workaholic (male)
- la stacanovista = the workaholic (female)
- gli stacanovisti = the workaholics (male)
- le stacanoviste = the workaholics (female)
Luisa è una vera stacanovista: lavora giorno e notte senza mai fermarsi.
Luisa is a true workaholic: she works day and night without ever stopping.
![Business team working non stop](https://dailyitalianwords.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/business-team-are-under-stress-from-working-for-po-2024-12-19-19-31-43-utc-778x518.jpg)
A possible synonym for stacanovista is sgobbone, but you might also say that someone lavora sodo (works hard) or describe them as a lavoratore instancabile (tireless worker).
And if you’re looking to describe someone with the opposite traits of a workaholic, Italian offers plenty of options! Words like scansafatiche (slacker), fannullone (do-nothing), pigrone (lazybones), perdigiorno (slacker), and sfaticato (idler) are just the tip of the iceberg.
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.