Italian

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Etymology

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From puzzo (smell, stink) +‎ -are (1st conjugation verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /putˈt͡sa.re/
  • Rhymes: -are
  • Hyphenation: puz‧zà‧re

Verb

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puzzàre (first-person singular present pùzzo, first-person singular past historic puzzài, past participle puzzàto, auxiliary avére)

  1. (intransitive) to smell (bad) or stink [auxiliary avere]
    La stanza puzza di fumoThe room smells like cigarettes (literally, “The room smells like smoke”)
  2. (intransitive, figurative) to cause worry or unease [auxiliary avere]
  3. (intransitive, figurative) to be annoying or irritating [auxiliary avere]
  4. (intransitive, figurative) to give an impression, to seem [with di ‘of’] [auxiliary avere]
    • 1840, Alessandro Manzoni, “Capitolo XI [Chapter 11]”, in I promessi sposi[1], Tip. Guglielmini e Redaelli, page 222:
      Gervaso, a cui non pareva vero d’essere una volta più informato degli altri, a cui non pareva piccola gloria l’avere avuta una gran paura, a cui, per aver tenuto di mano a una cosa che puzzava di criminale, pareva d’esser diventato un uomo come gli altri, crepava di voglia di vantarsene.
      Jervase, who could scarcely believe that for once he knew a little more than others, who regarded having had a great fear not as a small glory, and who, for having had a hand in what seemed like a criminal affair, felt himself a man like the others, was dying to boast about it.
  5. (intransitive, figurative) to despise, to disdain [auxiliary avere]

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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

Anagrams

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