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confetti

Etymology and origin of the English word confetti

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Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Italian confetti

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kənˈfɛ.ti/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian confetti,[2][3][4][5] the plural of confetto “sweetmeat, candy”,[2][3][4][5] from Medieval Latin cōnfectum,[2][3] from Latin cōnfectus, the past participle of cōnficere “to prepare”.[2][3][5] It is a doublet of comfit.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bonbons, or plaster imitations of them, thrown at one another by revellers during the Italian carnival (1815).[7][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Sugar plums were traditionally thrown during Italian carnivals, and ordinary people replaced them with little balls of lime or plaster that left white marks.[5] The custom was adopted in England for weddings and other festivities, using bits of paper instead,[5] which were called confetti by 1846.[5] Barnhart dates the sense “bits of coloured paper thrown at celebrations” to 1895.[4] Figurative uses follow from 1924.[7]

Timeline

  • 1815 – sweets or plaster pellets thrown at the Italian carnival.[7][5][3]
  • 1846 – bits of paper thrown at celebrations.[5]
  • 1895 – bits of coloured paper thrown by celebrators.[4]
  • 1924 – transferred and figurative use.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Small pieces or streamers of coloured paper thrown or dropped at festive events such as weddings and parades.
  2. Confections or bonbons; especially sugar-coated almonds served at Italian weddings.
  • comfit
  • confection

Usage notes

Although Italian confetti is plural, the English word is used with a singular verb.[6][2] A single piece is very rarely called a confetto.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Confetti.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/confetti. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·