specifico

Forms

specifico (feminine specifica, masculine plural specifici, feminine plural specifiche, adverb specificamente)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin specifĭcus, which DELI and the GDLI say was coined by Boethius in his commentary on Porphyry's ⟨Isagoge⟩, together with the verb specificō.^[2][3] It is formed from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + -ficus (“making”), so it meant “that makes a species”.^[2][1][4] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give the source as Medieval Latin specificus, derived from the Late Latin verb.^[5][6] The same Latin word gave French spécifique, recorded in 1503.^[7]

The noun meaning a specific remedy is probably the French noun, used in that sense from 1694, and the medical phrase for a specific disease copies maladie spécifique.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Purgatorio, where every substantial form has its own “specific virtue” (specifica vertute) gathered in itself: the word means proper to and characteristic of a kind.^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian and later philosophy the adjective meant characteristic of a species, as opposed to the genus and the individual;^[8][9] Varchi contrasts a generic knowledge (a tree) with a specific one (a pear tree).^[8][9] From this came the general sense “particular, well defined”, opposed to generico, and “precise, concrete”, as in specific charges.^[10][6][11]

In medicine a rimedio specifico acts against one disease, and the noun specifico for such a remedy is recorded from Redi (before 1698); in Romani's libretto for L'elisir d'amore (1832) the quack Dulcamara sells his specifico.^[2] A malattia specifica was especially tuberculosis or syphilis.^[11][4] In physics the word marks a quantity per unit, as in peso specifico “specific weight”.^[11][12] The noun now also means the features that set a field apart, as in lo specifico televisivo.^[10][12]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses specifica in the Purgatorio.^[10][2]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses specifico as a noun for a remedy.^[2]
• 1832 – Dulcamara sells his specifico in Romani's libretto for L'elisir d'amore.^[2]
• 1906 – The sense “relating to the species” is recorded in the dictionaries.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (biology) Of or belonging to a species: caratteri specifici.^[10][12][11]
2. particular, specific to one case or field, as opposed to generico: Serve una formazione specifica per questo lavoro.^[10][6][12]
3. precise, detailed, concrete: accuse specifiche.^[6][11]
4. (medicine) Of a drug, acting against one disease.^[10][11] Of an infection or disease, caused by a known germ.^[10][11]
5. (physics) Of a quantity, taken per unit of another, such as volume or mass: peso specifico “specific weight”.^[11][12]

Noun

1. A specific, a drug for a particular disease.^[10][12]
2. The set of features that characterise a field or an art form: lo specifico del cinema.^[10][12] In nello specifico, specifically, in particular.^[10][12][1]

Word family

• specificare
• specifica
• specificazione
• specificamente
• specificatamente
• specificità
• aspecifico
• interspecifico
• intraspecifico

Related words

• specie
• speciale
• Latin speciēs
• French spécifique

Usage notes

Specifico is also the first person singular present of specificare.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3582
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse