farfecchia

Italian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin forficula (“small scissors”), from forfic- (“scissors”) +‎ -ula,[1] with an unexpected shift of the first vowel. Compare borrowed doublet forficula.

Alternatively, possibly from the Osco-Umbrian substrate, from Proto-Italic *farβā (“beard”) with the Latin diminutive suffix -cula,[2] in which case, sharing the same root as Italian barba.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /farˈfek.kja/
  • Rhymes: -ekkja
  • Hyphenation: far‧féc‧chia

Noun

farfecchia f (plural farfecchie)

  1. (rare, usually in the plural) moustache

References
  1. Accademia della Crusca (p. 1961), “farfécchia”, in Grande dizionario della lingua italiana (in Italian), volume 5, page 685
  2. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “barba”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 69

Further reading
  • farfecchie in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
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