esatto

Forms

esatto (feminine esatta, masculine plural esatti, feminine plural esatte, superlative esattissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin exāctus (“exact, precise”), properly the past participle of exigō (“to drive out; to weigh, measure exactly; to complete”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is formed with ex- and agō (“to drive, do”).^[6][7] DELI and Zingarelli start from the sense “to weigh exactly”, Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Treccani from “to bring to completion”, and GRADIT from “to examine”.^{[2][5][3][8][9][4]} The same Latin word gave French exact (16th century) and Spanish exacto.^[3][7][10]

The LEI notes that the word lives on in popular form only in southern Italy, as Neapolitan asatto and the Apulian ⟨satte⟩, which is doubled into an adverb meaning “exactly, at the right moment”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Messinese text of Accurso di Cremona (1321–1337), with the sense “done correctly and carefully, without mistakes”.^[11] DELI dates this sense to Francesco Colonna in 1499, and rejects as forgeries the earlier examples once credited to Giordano da Pisa.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “true to the facts” is recorded in Tasso in 1592–1593, and “careful and precise in what one does” in Paolo Sarpi (1608–1619).^[2] The noun esattezza follows in Galileo in 1623.^[2] Tommaseo explained esatto of a person as one who carries every act through to completion, and distinguished it from puntuale, which concerns doing things on time.^[12]

In modern Italian the adjective is used of answers, measurements and instruments (l'ora esatta, tre metri esatti), and on its own it serves as a reply meaning “that's right!”^[4][13][5] Scienze esatte are mathematics and the sciences founded on it.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1321–1337 – Accurso di Cremona uses the adjective.^[11]
• 1499 – Francesco Colonna uses it for “precise, free of mistakes”.^[2]
• 1592–1593 – Tasso uses it for “true to the facts”.^[2]
• 1608–1619 – Paolo Sarpi uses it of a careful person.^[2]
• 1623 – Galileo uses esattezza.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Free of mistakes; exact, accurate: Il risultato del calcolo è esatto.^[4][5][8]
2. Of an instrument, giving precise readings: un termometro esatto.^[4][8]
3. Matching a model or the truth; faithful: Mi ha ripetuto le esatte parole del direttore.^[4][13][9]
4. Of a quantity, neither more nor less: Sono le sei esatte.^[4][8][9]
5. Of a person, careful and punctual: È molto esatta nel rispettare le scadenze.^[4][8][5]
6. (literary) Well proportioned.^[4][9]

Interjection

1. That's right!, exactly!, as a reply confirming what someone has said: «Ci vediamo alle otto?» «Esatto.»^[4][13][1]

Word family

• esattezza
• esattamente
• inesatto

Related words

• esigere
• Latin exactus

Usage notes

Esatto is also the past participle of esigere in the sense “to collect money”, used in finance and administration for sums or taxes that have been collected (Guicciardini, before 1540).^[2][4][14] DELI and GRADIT give that use a numbered entry of its own, from the same Latin participle.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1530
8. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 858
11. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 296