puttana
Italian
Etymology
From Old French putain, from Latin puta (“girl”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /putˈta.na/
- Rhymes: -ana
- Hyphenation: put‧tà‧na
Noun
puttana f (plural puttane, masculine puttano)
- (derogatory, vulgar, slang) whore, slut, hooker, harlot, tart (British)
- 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno [The Divine Comedy: Hell], 12th edition (paperback), Le Monnier, published 1994, Canto XVIII, page 275, lines 133–135:
- Taïde è, la puttana che rispuose ¶ al drudo suo quando disse ‘Ho io grazie ¶ grandi apo te?’: ‘Anzi maravigliose!’.
- Thais the harlot is it, who replied ¶ unto her paramour, when he said, 'Have I ¶ great gratitude from thee?'--'Nay, marvellous'
- (derogatory, offensive) bitch
- trollop, strumpet, whore, streetwalker
Synonyms
- vacca (literally “cow”)
- scrofa (literally “sow”)
- cagna (literally “bitch”)
- troia (literally “sow”)
- baldracca (slang used in Northern Italy)
- mignotta (slang used in Rome)
- smanfaraccia (slang used in Central Italy)
- barlenga (slang used in some Italian regions)
Derived terms
- figlio di puttana
- porca puttana (“fucking hell!”)
- puttanaccia
- puttanaio
- puttanata
- puttanesca, alla puttanesca
- puttaniere
- sputtanare