tipo

Forms

tipo m (plural tipi; feminine tipa for a person)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin typus (“figure, image; type”),^[3][4][5][1] borrowed from Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “blow; impression, mark”), from τύπτω (túptō, “to strike”).^[3][4][1] Wiktionary traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-.^[1] The Greek noun had already taken on most of the transferred senses, “figure, form, image”, “mould, model” and “character, kind”.^[4] In Latin it named a figure in relief, a model or manner, and the course of a disease, and the Church spread the word, under the influence of Greek philosophy.^[3][6]

Some modern senses come from French type: “person, fellow”, which Spitzer studied in 1929, and the use after a noun as an adjective, frequent in French from the 1920s.^[3][4] The derivatives tipizzare and tipizzazione copy French, while tipologia copies English typology.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEI dates the word to the 16th century, in Torquato Tasso, with the sense “figure, symbol”.^[6] In Tasso's Rime Jonah, three days in the whale, is a “vivo tipo di Cristo” (a living figure of Christ).^[7] DELI's first record is later: 1704, in Lorenzo Bellini, for “kind, species”, the date GRADIT also gives.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Giovan Battista Fagiuoli, before 1742, uses it for a model or sample, also ironically, and in 1745 it named the ideal form to which single things with their variations can be referred.^[3] It meant a face or physical character from 1891, and an odd, eccentric person from 1905 in Panzini, though DEI has this sense in 1879;^[3][6] Panzini also mocked the tipo da spiaggia with his showy elegance.^[3][6] In the plural it named printing types in 1879, and in biology a phylum by 1939–1940.^[3]

In the 20th century it spread as an invariable adjective after a noun, “typical, standard” (famiglia tipo), in shop language for a product's kind or price range, and colloquially as an adverb meaning “like, for example”.^[3][1][8]

Timeline

• 16th century – Tasso uses tipo for “figure, symbol”.^[6]
• 1704 – Lorenzo Bellini uses it for “kind, species”.^[3]
• Before 1742 – Fagiuoli uses it for “model, sample”.^[3]
• 1829 – Tipico appears, in medicine.^[3][4]
• 1879 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the plural tipi for printing types.^[3]
• 1905 – Panzini records it for an odd person.^[3]
• 1939–1940 – The biological sense “phylum” is recorded.^[3]
• 1942 – Tipologia and tipizzare appear.^[3]
• 1965 – The invariable adjective “standard” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. type, kind, sort: Che tipo di musica ascolti?^[5][2][9]
2. A model or prototype from which a series is made: il primo tipo di aereo a reazione.^[5][2][10]
3. In del tipo di, sul tipo di or simply tipo before a noun, like, resembling: un pavimento tipo marmo.^[5][8]
4. A person who represents a physical type or a character: il tipo del secchione.^[5][8]
5. (colloquial) A guy, someone (feminine tipa): C’è un tipo alla porta che chiede di te.^[5][2][1]
6. An odd or original person: che tipo!^[5][10]
7. One's type: non è il mio tipo.^[5][8]
8. (biology) A phylum; also the type specimen of a taxon.^[5][11][1]
9. The design struck on a coin.^[5][9]
10. In the plural, printing types.^[5][9]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) Typical, standard: la giornata tipo di un pendolare.^[5][11]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) Like, for example: ci sentiamo tipo verso sera.^[1][8]

Word family

• tipico
• tipicità
• tipizzare
• tipizzazione
• tipologia
• tipologico
• tipaccio
• tipetto
• tipino

Related words

• tipografia
• timpano
• Latin typus
• French type

Usage notes

Used as an adjective after a noun, tipo does not change in the plural: famiglie tipo.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3797
7. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier