cicerone

See also: Cicerone and cicérone

English

Etymology

1726,[1] from Italian cicerone (surface analysis cicero + -one (“( augmentative)”)), from Latin Cicerōnem, form of Cicerō, agnomen of Marcus Tullius Cicero), the Roman orator, from cicer (“chickpea”) from Proto-Indo-European *ḱiker- (“pea”). Possibly humorous reference to loquaciousness of guides.[1]

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /t͡ʃɪt͡ʃəˈɹəʊni/, /sɪsəˈɹəʊni/

Noun

cicerone (plural cicerones or ciceroni)

  1. A guide who shows people around tourist sights.
    • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, Part I, Chapter 7
      East, still doing the cicerone, pointed out all the remarkable characters to Tom as they passed […]
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 3:
      he was in the act of making his evening plans with the same smelly but nice cicerone in a café-au-lait suit whom he had hired already twice at the same Genoese hotel [...].
    • 1987, Michael Brodsky, Xman, p. 360:
      Ultimately their gazes all rested on his cicerone as most powerful member of the group.
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 279:
      “First,” advised their cicerone in the matter, Professor Svegli of the University of Pisa, “try to forget the usual picture in two dimensions.”

Translations

Verb

cicerone (third-person singular simple present cicerones, present participle ciceroning, simple past and past participle ciceroned)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To show (somebody) the sights, acting as a tourist guide.

References

  1. 1 2 “cicerone” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.

Anagrams

Italian

Etymology

From Latin Cicerōnem, form of Cicerō, agnomen of Marcus Tullius Cicero), the Roman orator, from cicer (“chickpea”), a reference to his warts, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱiker- (“pea”). Surface analysis cicero +‎ -one (“( augmentative)”).

Noun

cicerone m (plural ciceroni)

  1. A guide who shows people around tourist sights.
  2. (informal) A know-it-all or smart ass.

Anagrams

Portuguese

Etymology

From Italian cicerone, named after Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Pronunciation

Noun

cicerone m, f (plural cicerones)

  1. cicerone (guide who shows people tourist sights)

Spanish

Etymology

Italian cicerone

Noun

cicerone m, f (plural cicerones)

  1. guide, cicerone (person)

Synonyms

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