troppo
English
Etymology
From tropical + -o (diminutive suffix). First used by Australian troops in tropical regions during WWII, in the sense “affected by war service in the tropics.” [1][2]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtɹɒpəʊ/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
troppo (not comparable)
- (Australia, slang, with go) Crazy, mad, strangely behaving; especially as attributed to hot weather.
- Barry′s gone troppo and married that sheila he′s only known for two weeks.
- After three months by himself on his ‘dream’ tropical island he went troppo and smashed all the equipment.
- 1989, Rosie Boycott, All for Love, page 163:
- ‘ […] She calls these rehearsals my singing lessons - but at least I don′t have people rushing in thinking I′ve gone troppo . . .’
‘Except me.’ Violet′s smile lingered as she gazed at him.
- 2009, Paul Tapp, Disquiet - the Justifiable Homicide of an Australian Vietnam Veteran, page 121:
- For a lone Digger gone troppo, as Joe is deemed to have done, it is a realistic scenario.
- 2016 March 15, David Dale, “John Jarratt talks new show Territory Cops and a murderous return in Wolf Creek”, in The Sydney Morning Herald[1]:
- "[The Northern Territory has] got the same sort of flavour to it, probably a bit more frontier. Overall, it's the tropics and they go troppo. The beer's cold and the weather's hot and they drink too much.
Synonyms
- bonkers
- doolally, from doolally tap
References
- ^ 1978, G.A.Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, Fontana.
- ^ Australian National Dictionary Centre Home » Australian words » Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms » T
Interlingua
Etymology
From the Italian, and also from French trop.
Adverb
troppo (not comparable)
Italian
Etymology
From Early Medieval Latin troppus, borrowed from Frankish *þorp (“a cluster, agglomeration", also "collection of houses, village”), from Proto-Germanic *þurpą (“village”), from Proto-Indo-European *trab-, *treb- (“dwelling, room”). Cognate with French trop (“too much”), Piedmontese tròp/trop. More at trop, thorp and troop.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtrɔp.po/[1]
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ɔppo
- Hyphenation: tròp‧po
Determiner
troppo (feminine troppa, masculine plural troppi, feminine plural troppe)
- too much, (in the plural) too many
- non mettere troppa carne al fuoco
- Don't bite off more than you can chew.
- (literally, “Don't put too much meat on the fire.”)
Pronoun
troppo (feminine troppa, masculine plural troppi, feminine plural troppe)
Adverb
troppo
Derived terms
References
- ^ troppo in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Further reading
- troppo in Bruno Migliorini et al., Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia, Rai Eri, 2025
- troppo in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
- troppo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana