paio

Forms

paio m (plural paia f)^[1]

Etymology

The singular was made in Italian from the plural ⟨paia⟩, which is inherited from Latin paria (“pairs”), the neuter plural of the adjective meaning “equal”, used as a noun.^[2][3][4][1] Early medieval documents already have Medieval Latin pair (907, Parma) and parium (921, Naples).^[5] DEI calls the singular in ⟨-io⟩ an Italian innovation, little used in the dialects: the other Romance languages have Old French per, Occitan par, Catalan par, Spanish par and Portuguese par, and the north of Italy has forms of the type ⟨par⟩, as Venetian pèr in Venice and Trieste.^[5][3] Devoto calls it the Tuscan form beside non-Tuscan paro.^[6][3] French paire continues the same Latin word, which also passed into German Paar.^[3]

The origin of the Latin adjective is unclear: de Vaan compares Umbrian pars (“(it is) prescribed”) but finds no good etymology.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Ricordi di una famiglia senese (1231–1262), for a couple of things, persons or animals.^[2] GRADIT dates it to 1262.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Beside a pair of matching things, the word came to mean a single object made of two parts that cannot be separated, such as scissors, trousers or glasses, and, loosely, a small number of about two.^[4][8][9] The plural is feminine, le paia; the older plural para is still found in Goldoni: “due para d'occhiali” (two pairs of spectacles).^[1][10] The derivatives appaiare (before 1321) and spaiare (17th century) were formed in Italian.^[3]

Timeline

• 907 – Medieval Latin pair is recorded at Parma.^[5]
• 1231–1262 – Paio appears in the Ricordi di una famiglia senese.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Appaiare is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pair, two things, persons or animals of the same kind that belong together: un paio di stivali, Ha comprato un paio di conigli.^[4][8][11]
2. A single object made of two joined parts: un paio di pinze, un paio di jeans.^[4][8][11]
3. A couple, two or a few: Torno fra un paio di settimane.^[4][8][11]

Word family

• appaiare
• spaiare
• appaiamento

Related words

• pari
• paro
• coppia
• Latin pār
• French paire

Usage notes

Un altro paio di maniche “another pair of sleeves” means a quite different matter, and fare il paio is said, often disparagingly, of two persons or things that are alike.^[8][10][9] The non-Tuscan variant paro is used in its shortened form par in phrases such as un par d'ore “a couple of hours”.^[3][10] Paio is also the first person singular present of parere “to seem”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2723
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse