preciso

Forms

preciso (feminine precisa, masculine plural precisi, feminine plural precise, superlative precisissimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin praecīsus (“cut off; abrupt; shortened”), the past participle of praecīdō (“to cut off, to cut short”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is a compound of prae- (“before, in front”) and caedō (“to cut”), with the usual change of its diphthong to /i/ in the inner syllable.^[2][5] In the language of rhetoric the Latin participle had come to mean “concise, brief”, and DEI quotes Quintilian for it.^[6][7] Devoto explains the sense of exactness from this use: what has been cut in front became what has been stripped of every superfluous ornament.^[5][8]

The same Latin word gave French précis and Spanish preciso.^[3][6] The derived Latin noun praecīsiō meant only “a cutting off, a part cut off”, while Italian precisione took its sense from the adjective; precisare came from French préciser.^[2]

The simple verb continues Proto-Italic *kaidō, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to strike, to cut”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in a statute of 1310–1313, in the sense “exact”.^[2] Nocentini dates the first record to 1309–1310.^[3] The participle “cut off” of the verb precidere was also used: Dante has preciso for “cut short, interrupted” in the Paradiso.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the participle kept its Latin senses “cut away”, “carved out with a chisel” and “separated”, which Tommaseo already marks as belonging to the written language.^[9][6] The adjective spread in the sense of “specific, well determined”: Guicciardini writes of a law that cannot give a precisa determinazione for every case.^[10] Dante and Boccaccio also used preciso as an adverb, “precisely, absolutely”, a use now literary.^[9][11]

From French précis (1671) Italian took a noun preciso, a summary or the gist of a matter, used by Goldoni and now out of use.^[12] The sense “who does things with exactness”, said of a person, is dated 1851, and di precisione for an exact instrument or careful work 1871.^[2] In modern colloquial use preciso also means “identical” (preciso a) and, as a reply, “exactly so”.^[13][11]

Timeline

• 1309–1310 – Nocentini's date for the first record.^[3]
• 1310–1313 – Preciso “exact” in a statute.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses preciso for “cut short”.^[14]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses precisione.^[2]
• 1671 – French précis, the source of the noun preciso “summary”, is recorded.^[12]
• 1778 – Precisare is first recorded.^[2]
• 1851 – The sense “exact in what one does”, of a person, is recorded.^[2]
• 1871 – Di precisione is recorded in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. exact, accurate, free of errors: Mi serve il numero preciso degli iscritti.^[4][8][15]
2. Specific, well defined, clear: Ha in mente un piano preciso.^[4][8][15]
3. Of time or measure: exact, to the minute or unit: Ci vediamo alle sei precise.^[4][8][11]
4. Of an instrument: giving exact readings: un termometro molto preciso.^[4][8]
5. Of language: apt, correct in expressing a concept.^[4][8]
6. Of a person: careful, meticulous, punctual: È precisa in tutto quello che fa.^[4][15][11]
7. Identical (with a): Questa borsa è precisa alla mia.^[15][11][13]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) Of exactly the right size: Il divano ci entra preciso.^[4][13]
2. In answers: exactly, quite so.^[13][16]

Word family

• precisione
• precisare
• precisazione
• precisamente
• impreciso
• precisino

Related words

• precidere
• conciso
• Latin praecīsus
• French précis

Usage notes

Di preciso means “exactly, for certain”, mostly with a negative: non so di preciso.^[13] The past participle of the literary verb precidere is spelled the same;^[4][11] GRADIT and Zingarelli give it a numbered headword of its own.^[4][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3053
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 60
11. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 62
13. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 61
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli