The Italian word for a male winner is vincitore (masculine, plural: vincitori). If you are talking about a female, this becomes vincitrice (feminine, plural: vincitrici). A useful way to remember this word is to think of the English terms victor or invincible.
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Il vincitore del torneo ha donato tutto il premio in denaro a un’organizzazione di beneficenza.
The winner of the tournament donated all the prize money to charity.
Vincitore assoluto means overall winner whereas vincitore morale is the moral victor or moral winner.
Note: You may also hear the terms premiato (male) / premiata (female), both of which derive from premio (prize / award).
In addition to being nouns, vincitore and its feminine equivalent can also function as adjectives that mean winning or victorious. They can be used to describe both people and things. For example:
- il giocatore vincitore = the winning player
- la squadra vincitrice = the winning team
- i cavalli vincitori = the winning horses
- le carte vincitrici = the winning cards
In this case, it is possible to substitute vincitore with the adjectives vincente or vittorioso.
Idioms featuring the word ‘vincitore’
Salire sul carro del vincitore
Literal translation: to get on the winner’s chariot
English meaning: to jump on the bandwagon
Non ci sono né vincitori né vinti
Literal translation: there aren’t winners or losers
English meaning: there aren’t winners or losers
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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.
