Italian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Medieval Latin bizochus, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /bidˈd͡zɔ.ko/
  • Rhymes: -ɔko
  • Hyphenation: biz‧zò‧co

Noun

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bizzoco m (plural bizzochi)

  1. (Roman Catholicism) tertiary; member of the Franciscan Third Order, who lived in poverty as beggars as protest to the riches and properties the Franciscan Order was gaining
    • 1980, Umberto Eco, “Primo giorno - Sesta”, in Il nome della rosa [The Name of the Rose] (I grandi tascabili), Milan: Bompiani, published 1984, pages 59–60:
      [P]roprio negli ultimi anni del secolo che moriva segnò una bolla, Firma cautela, con cui condannava in un sol colpo bizochi, girovaghi questuanti che si aggiravano al limite estremo dell'ordine francescano, e gli stessi spirituali, ovvero coloro che si sottraevano alla vita dell'ordine per darsi all'eterno.
      Right in the last years on the dying century he wrote a bull, Firma cautela, in which he condamned in one go both the bizochi, wandering beggars going near the extreme limit of the Franciscan Order, and the spirituals themselves, that is those who avoided the Order's lifestyle to devote themselves to the eternity.
  2. (by extension) anyone with a poor, humble and pious life
  3. (regional, central Italy, derogatory) bigot
    Synonyms: bigotto, bacchettone

Adjective

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bizzoco (feminine bizzoca, masculine plural bizzochi, feminine plural bizzoche)

  1. (regional, central Italy, derogatory) bigoted

Further reading

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  • bizzoco in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
  • bizzoco in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
  • bizzoco in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
  • bizzoco in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)