storto

Forms

storto (feminine storta, masculine plural storti, feminine plural storte)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian storcere (“to twist”): its past participle, used as an adjective.^[2][3][4][5] The verb continues Latin extorqueō (“to wrench out”), which changed its conjugation to Vulgar Latin *extorcere, and is formed from torqueō (“to twist”) with the prefix ex-.^[3][1] The DEI and Treccani compare the Latin past participle extortus directly, and Wiktionary derives the adjective from it, adding that the word can be read in Italian as s- and torto (“bent, twisted”).^[6][7][1] Its learned doublet is estorto.^[1]

The verb is Old French estordre, Occitan estorcer, Catalan estorcer and Romanian stoarce (“to squeeze”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first secure record is from about 1300, in the Laudario of Urbino, where storto means “wicked, wrong”; the physical sense “not straight” has a doubtful 14th-century record in a translation of Seneca, and a sure one before 1535 in Francesco Berni.^[2] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti date the word to the 14th century.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “wrong, mistaken” was there from the beginning, and the moral sense was still current in the 17th century, when Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger wrote per governo storto (“through crooked government”).^[2] The physical sense covers what is bent or curved, what is set at an angle, and parts of the body that are not straight: Galileo contrasts la trincierà storta with the straight one.^[8][7] In older use it also described thread that was twisted.^[9]

Colloquial Italian uses storto of a day or a matter that goes badly (una giornata storta, andare storto), and the adverbial use, “at a slant”, is recorded from 1970.^[2][10][7] In northern Italy a storto is also a crisp wafer rolled into a cone or twisted tube;^[8][7] Marin Sanudo already lists storti among sweets served at a meal.^[8][7] Young people's slang uses it for someone dazed by drink or drugs.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – Storto “wicked, wrong” is recorded in the Laudario of Urbino.^[2]
• Before 1311 – The noun storta, “a twist, a wrench”, appears in fra Giordano.^[2]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses storto “not straight”.^[2]
• 1567–1573 – Storta is used for the retort, the glass vessel of the distiller, in the Ricettario fiorentino.^[2]
• Before 1617 – Stortezza is recorded in Bernardino Baldi.^[2]
• Before 1832 – Stortura is recorded in Giovanni Battista Zannoni.^[2]
• 1970 – The adverbial use is recorded by Zingarelli.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not straight; crooked, bent, curved: Quel ramo è tutto storto e nodoso.^[10][4][5]
2. Not set straight, not properly lined up; askew: Il tappeto è un po' storto.^[10][4][11]
3. Of parts of the body, not straight, misshapen: gambe storte (bandy legs), occhi storti (squinting eyes).^[10][7]
4. (figurative) Wrong, mistaken, perverse: un giudizio storto;^[10][4][12] cervello storto, a mind that does not reason well.^[10][4][12]
5. (figurative, colloquial) Unlucky, unfavourable: una giornata storta, a day when everything goes wrong.^[10][4][5]

Adverb

1. At a slant, not in a straight line: Questo bambino scrive tutto storto.^[10][12]
2. (figurative) Badly, against one's hopes: andare storto, to go wrong;^[10][12][7] guardare storto, to look at someone with hostility or suspicion.^[10][12][7]

Noun

1. (regional) A crisp wafer shaped as a cone or twisted tube, filled with whipped cream, custard or ice cream.^[10][7]

Word family

• storta
• stortezza
• stortura
• stortamente
• stortino
• stortignaccolo

Related words

• storcere
• torto
• estorto
• torcere
• Latin extorqueō

Usage notes

Avere la luna storta means to be in a bad mood, and fare la bocca storta to twist one's mouth in disgust or disapproval.^[11][7] The GDLI has a separate old adjective storto “not twisted” (of thread), formed from the Latin prefix ex- and torto.^[8]

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 j k 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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3644
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ 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, p. 20, 244
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli