fuoco

See also: Fuoco

Italian

Alternative forms

• foco (Tuscan or archaic)

Etymology

From Latin focus (“hearth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfwɔ.ko/

• Audio (IT):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔko
• Hyphenation: fuò‧co

Noun

fuoco m (plural fuochi or (Old Italian) fòcora or fuòcora, diminutive fochétto/fuochétto or fochettìno or focherèllo/fuocherèllo or focherellìno or (uncommon) focolìno, augmentative focóne/fuocóne or focaróne)

1. fire

   Synonym: (obsolete, literary) igne

2. torment
   • 13^th century, Cielo d'Alcamo, Rosa fresca aulentissima‎^[1], lines 1–3; collected in Antologia della poesia italiana (La biblioteca di Repubblica), volume 1, Rome: Casa Editrice L'Espresso, 2024:

     «Rosa fresca aulentis[s]ima ch’apari inver’ la state, / le donne ti disiano, pulzell’ e maritate: / tràgemi d’este focora, se t’este a bolontate

     O luxuriant, most sweet-smelling rose, who appear in Summer: women, both maidens and married ones, desire you; take me away from these torments, if such is your will

3. (by extension, poetic) lightning, thunderbolt
4. pothole, burner, ring (on a stove)
5. focus
6. hearth, fireplace
7. (in the plural) fireworks
8. (figurative) ardour, passion, fire
9. (historical, Kingdom of Naples) household

   Il centro abitato più tassato nel 1669 risultava S. Nicandro (Sannicandro Garganico) con 582 fuochi.

   The most taxed settlement in 1669 was S. Nicandro (Sannicandro Garganico) with 582 households.

Usage notes

The triad cold, warmer, hot used to hint at something's location is rendered in Italian as acqua, fuochino, fuoco (literally: water, small fire, fire).

Interjection

fuoco

1. (military) fire!

Derived terms

• affocare
• antifuoco
• dare fuoco
• focace
• focale
• focato
• focheggiare
• fochista
• focone
• focoso
• fuoco fatuo
• infuocare
• sfocare
• sfocato

Related terms

• focaccia
• focolare
• fucile

Further reading

• “fuoco”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026
• “fuoco” in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Neapolitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin focus.

Pronunciation

Dialectal forms

• IPA^(key): /ˈfu͡oko/ (dialects with metaphonic diphthongization)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfuəkɐ] (Naples)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfwoːko] (Avellino)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfwoːku] (Inner Campania)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfweːkə] (Bari, Taranto)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfuːkə] (Tavoliere, NE Calabria)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfuːku] (Force, NW Calabria)
• IPA^(key): /ˈfoko/ (dialects with Sabine metaphony)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfoːkə] (Avezzano, S. Lazio, Inner Campania, Gargano)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfoːku] (Morcone)
• IPA^(key): /ˈfoko/ (dialects with syllabic isochrony)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfoːkə] (Chieti)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfau̯kə] (Peschici)
• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔko/ (dialects without metaphony or isochrony)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfɔːko] (Maratea)
  • IPA^(key): [ˈfɔːkə] (Pescara, Potenza)

Noun

fuoco m (plural fuoche)

1. fire
2. fireplace, hearth

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 354: “al fuoco” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Rocco, Emmanuele (1882), “fuoco”, in Vocabolario del dialetto napolitano‎^[2]