magro

Forms

magro (feminine magra, masculine plural magri, feminine plural magre, superlative magrissimo)^[1] The literary variant is macro and the popular Tuscan form màghero.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin macer (“thin, lean”).^[5][6][7][1] The same word is French maigre (the source of English meagre), Occitan magre, Catalan magre, Spanish magro “lean (of meat)”, Portuguese magro and Romanian macru.^[6][8]

The /ɡ/ for Latin /k/ is a northern trait: Sabatini–Coletti and Devoto explain ⟨magro⟩ as lenition spread through the northern dialects, and DEI calls it a form of northern origin that also reached the southern dialects, where it replaced the native word for “dry”.^[9][10][4] The form ⟨macro⟩, closer to Latin, lived on in poetry through Dante, who used it only in rhyme.^[5][2] A Vulgar Latin *macrētum, for poor land, survives in place names such as Magretas (762), now Magredis in Friuli.^[5][11]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós (“long, thin”) and is related to Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós, “long”) and Hittite maklant- (“thin, meagre”).^[12][6][1] De Vaan and Nocentini add Old High German magar (“lean”), which Nocentini allows may be an early loan from Latin;^[12][6][4] DEI thinks a loan probable.^[12][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Girardo Patecchio's Noie, from the early 13th century, mention pessci macri, “lean fish”.^[5] The 13th-century Canzone del fi' Aldobrandino has the sense “thin, lean” of a person.^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “low in fat” is recorded in the 14th century in an anonymous Venetian text, and the figurative sense “poor, scarce” before 1342 in Domenico Cavalca.^[5] Francesco Berni used it before 1535 for “weak, inadequate”, and Filippo Baldinucci used the noun for the lean part of meat before 1696.^[5] Pietro de' Crescenzi's agricultural treatise already speaks of plants that grow magre e spinose, “meagre and thorny”.^[14]

Through the Church's rules on fasting the word came to mean abstinence from meat: mangiare di magro, giorni di magro.^[15][3] The feminine noun magra, first used of a river at its lowest level (dialect magra d'acqua 1775, Italian 1826), took the figurative senses “shortage” (1957) and, short for magra figura, “poor showing” (1959, Pasolini).^[5] Dante has magrezza in 1300–1313.^[5]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Girardo Patecchio writes pessci macri.^[5]
• 13th century – The Canzone del fi' Aldobrandino uses magro “thin”.^[5]
• 1282 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[16]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses magrezza.^[5]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for “poor, scarce”.^[5]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses it for “weak, inadequate”.^[5]
• Before 1696 – Filippo Baldinucci uses the noun for lean meat.^[5]
• 1775 – Dialect magra d'acqua is recorded by Patriarchi.^[5]
• 1826 – Magra “low water” appears in the Milanese press.^[5]
• 1959 – Pasolini uses magra for a poor showing.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. thin, lean: having little body fat: Dopo la malattia era diventato magrissimo.^[7][2][16]
2. Of food, containing little or no fat: carne magra, latte magro.^[7][2][15]
3. Of wine, light-bodied though pleasant.^[7][17]
4. Of soil, poor, infertile; of a plant, stunted.^[7][2][15]
5. (figurative) meagre, scanty, insufficient: una pensione magra.^[7][9][16]
6. (figurative) Paltry, poor: fare una magra figura.^[7][16][3]
7. (building) Of mortar or concrete, low in binder.^[16][15]

Noun

1. The lean part of meat.^[7][16][15]
2. A thin person.^[9][16]
3. (Catholicism) abstinence from meat on the days the Church prescribes: mangiare di magro.^[7][15][3]

Word family

• magra
• magrezza
• dimagrare
• dimagrante
• dimagrire
• dimagrimento
• smagrire
• smagrimento
• ammagrire
• magramente
• magredo
• magrolino
• magrone
• smagrare

Related words

• Latin macer
• French maigre

Usage notes

Magro come un chiodo and magro come un'acciuga mean “as thin as a rake”.^[7][15] The biblical vacche magre, the lean kine of Pharaoh's dream, stand for hard times.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2319
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 618
12. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 479
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)