palazzo

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian palazzo (“palace”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin palātium (“imperial residence”).^[7][3][8][9] Etymonline traces the Italian word through Medieval Latin palacium (“a palace”), also the source of Spanish palacio.^[5] The Latin word first named the Palatine Hill in Rome, where the house of Augustus stood and the emperors later built their residences; in the plural it meant a palace.^[5][7] The same Latin word, through Old French palais, is the source of palace.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A palatial mansion, especially in Italy: 1657, in G. G. D'Ouvilly's play The False Favourit Disgrac'd.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1660s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word was borrowed for the great town houses of Italy, and Merriam-Webster still notes that it is used especially of a building there;^[3][2] the OED also records an extended use for any large and imposing building or residence.^[2][4] Chambers adds that such a palace is often one that has been turned into a museum.^[9] In the 1960s the word moved into fashion: from 1966 it described a loose, flowing garment or outfit, especially in palazzo pants and palazzo pyjamas.^[2][6] From 1970 palazzos alone, usually in the plural, were wide-legged women's trousers, probably short for those phrases.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1657 – a palatial mansion, especially in Italy.^[2][3]
• 1966 – of a garment, loose and flowing, as in palazzo pants.^[2][6]
• 1970 – loose, wide-legged trousers for women, usually in the plural.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A palace or other large, imposing building or residence, especially in Italy: The family still lives on the top floor of the old palazzo.^[3][2][4]
2. Loose women's trousers with wide legs; usually in the plural.^[2][6][9]

Adjective

1. Of a garment or outfit, loose and flowing in cut: palazzo pants.^[2][6]

Related words

• palace
• palatial
• palatine

Usage notes

The plural is palazzi, as in Italian, or palazzos;^[3][10] the Shorter Oxford keeps palazzi for the buildings, while the trousers are always palazzos.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ a b c The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins