Etymologically
Log in

risotto

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word risotto

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1821 A. Vieusseux, Italy & Italians 19th Century More words from the 19th century
Borrowed from
Italian risotto
Ultimate origin
Latin oryza

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹɪˈzɒtəʊ/[1]
  • US: /ɹɪˈzoʊtoʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian risotto,[2][3][4][5] formed from riso (“rice”) and the suffix -otto.[2][3][6][7] The OED notes that the Italian word is recorded only from 1826, though the English quotation of 1821 implies it, and that a regional form of Milan, Lombard risòtt, is found from 1814 or earlier.[2] Italian riso, like English rice, goes back to Latin oryza.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An Italian dish of rice cooked in stock with other ingredients: 1821, in A. Vieusseux's Italy and the Italians in the Nineteenth Century.[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1848,[3] and Dictionary.com to 1850–55.[8]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline the word was at first used of the dish in Italian settings, and began to appear in English cookery books only about 1880.[3] Collins, the Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster Unabridged class it as a 19th-century borrowing,[7][5][4] and the OED also records it in attributive use, especially in risotto rice.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged lists a variant spelling rizotto.[4]

Timeline

  • 1821 – an Italian dish of rice cooked in stock with other ingredients.[2][4] Etymonline gives 1848.[3]
  • c. 1880 – the dish appears in English cookery books.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An Italian dish of rice cooked slowly in stock with other ingredients such as mushrooms, seafood, saffron or Parmesan: a pumpkin risotto.[6][4][7][2]
  2. risotto rice: a short-grained rice suited to making this dish.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Risotto.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/risotto. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·