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completo

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word completo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1290–1310, Regimen Sanitatis (Neapolitan)
Borrowed from
Latin completus
Ultimate origin
Latin compleō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin completus
English complete
French complet
German komplett
Italian completo
From the same root
Italian completamente ← completo

Pronunciation

  • /komˈplɛ.to/[1]

Forms

completo (feminine completa, masculine plural completi, feminine plural complete)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin complētus (“filled; complete”), the past participle of compleō (“to fill up; to finish”).[2][3][4][5] The inherited participle of the Latin verb is compiuto, beside compiere.[6][3] The learned word is also French complet, Catalan complet, Spanish completo, Portuguese completo and Friulian complèt.[6][3]

Some senses were taken from French.[2][6] The noun “suit of clothes” is a calque of the French noun, which DELI dates in this sense to the 17th century and the LEI to 1874; the sense “full, with no seats left” follows French too.[2][6][7] completare and completamento are French compléter (1733) and complètement (1750).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO and the LEI find the word first in the Neapolitan Regimen Sanitatis (1290–1310), then in Old Bolognese conpleda (1321), in the sense “whole, lacking nothing”.[8][6] In Tuscan prose DELI dates it before 1597, in Giovan Vettorio Soderini's work on agriculture, which speaks of a “complete fortification”.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective spread in the 17th and 18th centuries, with Carlo Dati wishing a correspondent “every most complete happiness”.[9] It came to mean “total, absolute”, also in insults such as un completo idiota, and “full” of a theatre or a bus.[4][10] Of a person it means all-round, having every skill a job needs.[4][7]

The noun for a man's suit of jacket, waistcoat and trousers is recorded in 1918.[2] Writers such as Gadda and Pratolini used it for grey or blue suits, and it now names any set of matching clothes or accessories.[11][4] Technical uses followed: a complete flower in botany, the equestrian concorso completo (from 1956), and in logic a formal system with the property of completeness (from 2000).[4][6]

Timeline

  • 1290–1310 – Completo appears in the Neapolitan Regimen Sanitatis.[8][6]
  • 1321 – Old Bolognese conpleda is recorded.[6]
  • Before 1597 – Giovan Vettorio Soderini uses completo.[2]
  • 1733 – French compléter, the model of completare, is recorded.[2]
  • 1798 – Ugo Foscolo uses completare.[2]
  • 1918 – Panzini records completo for a man's suit.[2]
  • 1956 – The equestrian concorso completo is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. complete, having all the parts it should have: Mi serve l'elenco completo degli iscritti.[4][7][12]
  2. Total, absolute: Nella stanza c'era un silenzio completo.[4][12][10]
  3. Of a place or vehicle, full, with no seats left.[4][7][10]
  4. Of a person, all-round, having every quality needed for an activity: un musicista completo.[4][7][12]
  5. (botany) Of a flower, having perianth, stamens and carpels.[4][7]
  6. (logic, mathematics) Of a formal system, having the property of completeness.[4][7]

Noun

  1. A suit or outfit, a set of matching clothes; especially a man's suit of jacket, trousers and sometimes waistcoat.[4][10][13]
  2. A set of matching objects or accessories for one use: un completo di valigie.[4][10][14]

Word family

  • completare
  • completamento
  • completezza
  • completamente
  • incompleto
  • completino

Usage notes

Al completo means “full” of a hotel or a theatre, and “with everyone present” of a group.[10][14][7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 16, 520
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 414
  10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 415
  12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Completo.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/completo. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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