becco

See also: beccò

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbek.ko/
• Rhymes: -ekko
• Hyphenation: béc‧co

Etymology 1

From Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos.

Noun

becco m (plural becchi)

1. beak (structure projecting from a bird's face)
2. (by extension):
   1. beak (anything projecting or ending in a point like a beak)
   2. a mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument
   3. the foremost part of a firearm's hammer

      Holonym: cane

   4. burner

      Hyponym: becco Bunsen

3. (botany) beak (process somewhat like the beak of a bird)
4. (aeronautics) leading edge

   Synonym: bordo di attacco

Derived terms

• antibecco
• avambecco
• becco Bunsen (“Bunsen burner”)
• beccuccio
• mettere il becco

 

Further reading

• becco¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Probably from either Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“male goat”) or Proto-Celtic *bukkos, whence French bouc. The -e- is most readily explained through the Middle High German plural böcke (early on also unrounded; compare contemporary Bavarian Beck). Alternatively from Latin ībex, though this is more problematic. Compare also northern French bique.

Noun

becco m (plural becchi)

1. billygoat

   Hypernym: capra

   • 1567, Ricettario fiorentino [Florentine Cookbook]‎^[1], page 97:

     Il sangue si usa in medicina, preso da molti animali […] come il sangue di colombo, di tortora, di testuggine marina, di becco, et d'altri

     Blood is used in medicine, taken from various animals, like blood of pigeon, of turtledove, of tortoise, of billygoat, and of others

2. (figurative, derogatory, vulgar) cuckold

   Synonym: cornuto

Derived terms

• beccaio

 

Related terms

• stambecco

Further reading

• becco² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• Battisti, Carlo, Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957) Dizionario etimologico italiano, Firenze: Barbera
• Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

becco

1. first-person singular present indicative of beccare

Anagrams

• bocce

Latin

Noun

beccō

1. dative/ablative singular of beccus

References

• becco in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)