fiasco English · revision 166

5 Oct 2026, 22:09 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /fiˈæs.kəʊ/ ''(UK)''; /fiˈæs.koʊ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+ 
  ==Etymology==
− Recorded in 1855 as theatre slang for “a failure in performance”, and by 1862 in the general sense “ignominious failure”.^(Etymonline) It comes via French ''faire fiasco'' from Italian ''far fiasco'' “to make a bottle”, i.e. to fail,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|it|fiasco|t=bottle, flask]],^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|la-lat|flascō|t=bottle]].^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)
+ It comes via French ''faire fiasco'' from Italian ''far fiasco'' “to make a bottle”, that is, to fail,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|it|fiasco|t=bottle, flask]],^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|la-lat|flascō|t=bottle]].^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)
  
− The origin of the idiom is obscure: Italian etymologists have proposed various guesses and told stories of incidents in Italian theatrical history.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Compare [[flask]].^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Theatre slang for “a failure in performance” (1855).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ By 1862 the word had the general sense “any ignominious failure”, on or off the stage.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The origin of the idiom is obscure: Italian etymologists have proposed various guesses and told stories of incidents in Italian theatrical history.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The American Heritage Dictionary connects it with French ''bouteille'' “bottle”, used for the linguistic errors of Italian actors on the 18th-century French stage.^(AHD) Italian dictionaries record ''fare il fiasco'' as playing a game in which the loser pays for the next bottle, which may link the bottle with a costly mistake.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) In its literal sense ''fiasco'' is also used in English for a straw-covered wine bottle (1887).^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1855 – theatre slang, “a failure in performance”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1862 – “any ignominious failure”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1887 – “a bottle, flask”.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A complete and humiliating failure.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A straw-covered wine bottle, especially for Chianti.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[flask]]
  
  ==References==