Etymologically
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pieno

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpjɛ.no/, /ˈpje.no/[1]

Forms

pieno (feminine piena, masculine plural pieni, feminine plural piene, superlative pienissimo)[1] Old and dialect forms include pino, piino, pinno and plenu.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plēnus (“full”).[3][4][5][1] The word is pan-Romance: French plein, Occitan ple, Catalan ple, Spanish lleno, Portuguese cheio, Sardinian prenu and Romanian plin, and Dalmatian plain.[4][6][1] Compare Sicilian chinu.[1]

The Latin adjective comes from Proto-Italic *plēnos, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”), with an ⟨e⟩-grade root; it belongs with the verb pleō (“to fill”), known only in compounds such as impleō (“to fill in”), the source of empire.[4][1] Related formations are Sanskrit पूर्ण (pūrṇa), Lithuanian pilnas, Old Church Slavonic плънъ (plŭnŭ), Old Irish lán and English full, and there are also Ancient Greek πλέως (pléōs) and Ancient Greek πλήρης (plḗrēs).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294), for a container filled to its capacity.[3][4][5] In one of his poems “di caro piena [è] l'arca” (the chest is full of dearth).[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses pieno for “sated” (before 1321), Guidotto da Bologna in the 13th century for “complete, perfect”, and the 14th-century statutes of Por Santa Maria for “solid, massive”.[3] As a noun it named the solid part of something (Boccaccio, 1353), the height of a period or event (Matteo Villani, before 1363) and a full load (Sassetti, 1573).[3] The feminine noun piena “flood, high water” goes back to Bono Giamboni (before 1292), and Matteo Villani also used it for a crowd.[3]

Twentieth-century additions include fare il pieno “to fill up the tank”, pieno impiego, a calque of English full employment, and in pieno centro, a version made by ear of French en plein cintre.[7] Pienone “packed house” is recorded from 1882 or 1922.[4][3] In music pieno (1801) is the full ensemble;[8] French used it as a musical direction from 1703.[8]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Guidotto da Bologna uses pieno for “complete”.[3]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses piena “flood”.[3]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses pieno “full”.[3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “sated”.[3]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses il pieno as a noun.[3]
  • 1540–1541 – Firenzuola uses pienotto “plump”.[3]
  • 1801 – Pieno is used in music for the full ensemble.[8]
  • 20th century – Fare il pieno “to fill the tank” appears.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. full, filled to capacity; with di, full of: una tazza piena di latte.[5][9][10][1]
  2. Crowded, packed; sold out: La metropolitana era piena all'ora di punta.[5][9][11]
  3. Containing a great quantity of something; covered with: Il compito era pieno di errori.[5][10][12]
  4. (figurative) Filled with a feeling: Mi guardava con gli occhi pieni di gioia.[5][9][12]
  5. Sated, having eaten enough: Grazie, sono pieno.[10][11][1]
  6. Solid, not hollow: una parete piena.[10][12][11]
  7. Complete, total; at its height: pieni poteri, in piena notte.[5][9][11]
  8. Plump, rounded: guance piene.[11]

Noun

  1. The full or solid part; the height of something: nel pieno dell'inverno.[5][9][11]
  2. A full load; a full tank of fuel: fare il pieno.[13][7]

Word family

  • piena
  • pienezza
  • pienone
  • pienotto
  • pienamente
  • appieno
  • ripieno
  • strapieno
  • troppopieno

Usage notes

Common phrases include pieno zeppo “crammed full”, a piene mani “lavishly”, a tempo pieno “full-time” and essere pieno di sé “to be full of oneself”.[5][12][11][1] Both /ɛ/ and /e/ are recorded in the stressed syllable.[1][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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 d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2910
  8. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org