peloso

Forms

peloso (feminine pelosa, masculine plural pelosi, feminine plural pelose)^[1] Old forms include piloso, pelloso and pieloso.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pilōsus (“hairy”), from pilus (“hair”).^[5][6][7][1] Italian speakers can also read it as pelo with the suffix -oso.^[1] The same word is Romanian păros, Old French pelous, Old Occitan pelos, Spanish peloso and Portuguese peloso; French pelouse “lawn” is the feminine.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the word from the Novellino, late in the 13th century, for someone covered in thick hair: a man so thin and pale that he looked like a beast, so hairy was he.^[5][2][10]

Semantic evolution

Dante writes pilosa pelle in the Inferno.^[2] Beside persons and animals the word came to describe plants covered in down, fabrics with a thick nap, and land overgrown with vegetation.^[7][11]

The figurative carità pelosa, charity done for one's own interest, is dated from Varchi in the 16th century;^[12][4][11] peloso alone then came to mean self-seeking.^[12][4][11] In zoology Pelosi names a suborder of the Xenarthra, the sloths and anteaters.^[7]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses peloso.^[5][2]
• Before 1321 – Dante writes pilosa pelle.^[2]
• 16th century – Carità pelosa is used by Varchi.^[12]
• 18th century – Pelosità is used by Salvini.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. hairy: having much hair, covered in hair (of a person, an animal or a part of the body).^[7][3][13]
2. (botany) downy: covered in fine hairs.^[7][3][13]
3. Of a fabric or yarn, having a thick nap or fuzz.^[7][3][14]
4. (literary) Covered in vegetation.^[7][11]
5. (figurative) Self-seeking under a show of goodness: carità pelosa.^[7][3][4]

Noun

1. (zoology) A member of the Pelosi, a suborder of the Xenarthra with thick fur.^[7]

Word family

• pelosità
• pelosetto

Related words

• pelo
• piloso
• Latin pilosus

Usage notes

The ⟨s⟩ is pronounced /z/, or traditionally /s/.^[1][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 977
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2829
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana