rientrare

Forms

rientrare (first-person singular present riéntro, first-person singular past historic rientrài, past participle rientràto, auxiliary èssere)^[1] An old form is Old Italian rintrare.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian ri- + entrare (“to enter”).^[3][4][5][1] DELI reads the prefix ri- as either the repetitive one or the one that means “back”.^[3] The verb entrare continues Latin intrō (“to go inside”), from intrā (“within”).^[3][4] The noun rientro is formed from the verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giovanni Villani's chronicle, before 1348, with the sense of going back into a place one has left:^[3][5] his Florentines refuse to open the gates for fear that the count, rientrando with his cavalry, would take revenge.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio tells of a wife who, shut out by her husband, cannot rientrare however much she begs.^[2] Figurative uses appear early: Petrarch, and rientrare in sé “to come to one's senses, repent” in Jacopone da Todi.^[6] The sense of shrinking or drawing in is dated before 1537 in Biringuccio, and that of a line or surface curving inward before 1597 in Soderini.^[3] In 1858 Tommaseo records the sense “to be included”, as in a category or one's duties.^[3]

The modern colloquial language adds rientrare “to get one's money back”, and a plan or a protest that rientra is called off.^[5][7][1] The derivatives are mostly late: rientranza “recess” in 1914, rientrato “failed, unrealized” in 1905, and rientro “return” in 1935, used for a spacecraft's re-entry into the atmosphere from 1965.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses rientrare for going back in.^[3]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio uses it for shrinking or drawing in.^[3]
• Before 1597 – Soderini uses it for a surface curving inward.^[3]
• 1858 – Tommaseo records the sense “to be included”.^[3]
• 1914 – The derivative rientranza “recess” is recorded.^[3]
• 1935 – Rientro “return” is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1944 – Marinetti uses rientrare transitively, “to bring back in”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go back in, to return to a place one has left; to come home: Rientro a casa verso le otto.^[5][8][9]
2. To go back to work or to one's usual post: Dopo le vacanze rientra in ufficio lunedì.^[5][8]
3. To return to a former condition or situation: rientrare in possesso di qualcosa, rientrare in gioco.^[5][10][7]
4. (colloquial) Of money lent or invested, to come back; of a person, to recover money spent.^[5][8][10]
5. (figurative) Of a plan or a protest, to be called off or to die down.^[5][10][7]
6. Of a line or surface, to curve inward, to form a recess: Qui la costa rientra e forma una piccola baia.^[5][10][9]
7. To be included in a group, a list or a category: Questo non rientra nei miei compiti.^[5][10][9]
8. (uncommon) Of fabric, to shrink.^[10][7][9]

Word family

• rientramento
• rientrante
• rientrabile
• rientranza
• rientrato
• rientro

Related words

• entrare
• ritornare

Usage notes

The verb takes essere as auxiliary.^[8][1] Common phrases are rientrare in sé “to regain self-control”, rientrare nei ranghi “to fall back into line”, and the proverbial uscire dalla porta e rientrare dalla finestra “to be thrown out of the door and come back through the window”.^[5][8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse