trucco Italian · revision 39126

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1905, Panzini|origins=la trūdō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈtruk.ko/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''trucco''' ''m'' (plural trucchi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|truc|t=knack, trick]], from [[oc|truc|t=blow]] with the slang sense “cunning, find”, from [[m|oc|trucar|t=to strike]], from [[la-vul|*trūdicō|alt=*trūdicāre|t=to strike, press, push]], from [[la|trūdō|t=to push, thrust]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999) DELI, after Nigra (1901), treats it with the verb [[truccare]], from [[fr|truquer]]; both are recent and often slang words.^(DELI 1999) Devoto–Oli and GRADIT make the makeup sense a derivative of that verb.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003) DEI compares [[egl|trüc|t=business; swindle]] of Piacenza (1836), [[pms|trüc|t=barter; deceit]] and modern [[oc|truc]], and dates the French word in the sense “cunning” to the 12th century.^(DEI|3919)

+

+ Old Italian had an older homonym, the name of a billiard-like game, which DELI says cannot be separated from the same base.^(DELI 1999) Zaccaria and the GDLI derive it from the verb in the sense “to hit (a ball)”.^(DELI 1999)^(Zaccaria 1901)^(GDLI|21, 422)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record in the sense of a fraud or swindle is in Panzini's dictionary of 1905.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) DEI notes a theatrical sense, a stage machine, in Bettoli in 1885.^(DEI|3919)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word spread in the 20th century with the theatre and the cinema: the GDLI quotes Gozzano on the ''trucchi'' of the cameraman, and the senses “the act of making up” (1937) and “cosmetics” (1961) followed the verb ''truccare'' “to make up an actor”, recorded in 1926.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|21, 421) Today ''trucco'' is both a clever trick or knack and makeup.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1885 – Bettoli uses ''trucco'' for a stage machine.^(DEI|3919)

+ * 1895 – ''Truccare'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1905 – Panzini records ''trucco'' “fraud”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1926 – ''Truccare'' “to make up (an actor)”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1937 – ''Trucco'' “making up” in the ''Enciclopedia italiana''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1961 – ''Trucco'' “cosmetics”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|trick]], an artifice that creates an illusion: ''Il mago ci ha svelato il trucco della carta scomparsa.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(cinema, photography)'' A [[effetto speciale|alt=special effect]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A clever expedient, a knack; also a swindle: ''Ha superato l'esame con un trucco.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # [[m|en|make-up]], the application of cosmetics, its result, and the cosmetics themselves: ''Si è rifatta il trucco prima di uscire.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[truccare]]

+ * [[truccatore]]

+ * [[truccatura]]

+ * [[struccare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[trucchetto]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Il trucco c'è ma non si vede'' (“there's a trick, but you can't see it”) is a set phrase of conjurors, and ''i trucchi del mestiere'' are the tricks of the trade.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The obsolete ''trucco'', a table game like billiards played in Italy from the 16th to the 18th century, is recorded in 1626;^(DIFIT)^(GDLI|21, 422) English borrowed it as ''trucks'' (1671) and German as ''Trukko'' (1876).^(DIFIT)^(GDLI|21, 422)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}