piacevole

Forms

piacevole m or f (plural piacevoli, superlative piacevolissimo)^[1] Old forms include piacevile, piacivole, piazevele, placevele, plasevre and plaxevele.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin placibilis (“pleasing”), recorded in Tertullian, from placeō (“to please”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Wiktionary and the GDLI treat it instead as an Italian formation from piacere with the suffix -evole, and Sabatini–Coletti gives both, noting that the Late Latin word already existed.^[1][2][9]

The Latin word survives in French paisible, Old Occitan pazible, Spanish apacible and Portuguese aprazível.^[10][11] Outside Italian its meaning moved towards “peaceful”, under the influence of pāx (“peace”), but Meyer-Lübke considered a direct derivation from the noun unlikely, since -ibilis is not added to noun stems.^[10] Körting saw a crossing with plācābilis (“placable”) as well.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to about 1261.^[12] DELI's first record is in Latini, before 1294, in the sense “that pleases, that gives delight”.^[13] The GDLI quotes the Rettorica of Latini, where a person is described as amata e piacevole to the listener.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective was used above all of people: amiable, courteous, well disposed.^[2][3] Boccaccio describes women and young men as bella e piacevole and bello e piacevole.^[3] The senses “obliging, compliant” and “favourable, propitious”, as when Boccaccio says that fortune was piacevole to a prank, are now archaic.^[14][12][6]

In modern Italian the word describes whatever gives pleasure to the senses or the mind, a pleasant breeze, book or evening, and a person who is likeable or attractive.^[14][6][7] As a musical direction it means “pleasantly”, and was taken up as such by French, English and German, where it is recorded in 1802.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1261 – first record of piacevole.^[12]
• Before 1294 – Latini uses the word.^[13]
• 13th century – piacevolezza is recorded.^[5]
• 14th century – the verbs piacevolare and piacevoleggiare are recorded.^[5]
• 1802 – piacevole is recorded as a musical term in German.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. pleasant, agreeable: that pleases the senses or gives a feeling of well-being: un profumo piacevole di pane caldo.^[14][6][7]
2. Enjoyable to read, watch or listen to: un racconto piacevole.^[14][16]
3. Of a person, likeable, good company; also attractive.^[14][6][9]
4. (archaic) Obliging, well disposed.^[6][9][7]
5. (archaic) Favourable, propitious.^[14][6][7]
6. (music) In a pleasant, graceful manner.^[15]

Word family

• piacevolezza
• piacevolmente
• spiacevole
• piacevoleggiare
• impiacevolire
• appiacevolire

Related words

• piacere
• piacente
• Latin placeō
• French paisible

Usage notes

The opposite is spiacevole.^[12][8] Used impersonally it takes an infinitive: non è piacevole aspettare al freddo.^[14][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2890
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)