puttana

Italian

Etymology

From Old French putain, from Latin puta (“girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /putˈta.na/
• Rhymes: -ana
• Hyphenation: put‧tà‧na

Noun

puttana f (plural puttane, masculine puttano)

1. (derogatory, vulgar, slang) whore, slut, hooker, harlot, tart (British)
   • 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno [The Divine Comedy: Hell], 12th edition (paperback), Le Monnier, published 1994, Canto XVIII, page 275, lines 133–135:

     Taïde è, la puttana che rispuose ¶ al drudo suo quando disse ‘Ho io grazie ¶ grandi apo te?’: ‘Anzi maravigliose!’.

     Thais the harlot is it, who replied ¶ unto her paramour, when he said, 'Have I ¶ great gratitude from thee?'--'Nay, marvellous'

2. (derogatory, offensive) bitch
3. trollop, strumpet, whore, streetwalker

Synonyms

• vacca (literally “cow”)
• scrofa (literally “sow”)
• cagna (literally “bitch”)
• troia (literally “sow”)
• baldracca (slang used in Northern Italy)
• mignotta (slang used in Rome)
• smanfaraccia (slang used in Central Italy)
• barlenga (slang used in some Italian regions)

Derived terms

• figlio di puttana
• porca puttana (“fucking hell!”)
• puttanesca, alla puttanesca
• puttaniere
• puttanaccia
• puttanata
• puttanaio
• sputtanare

Related terms

• putta

Descendants

• → Albanian: putánë, putërë — Arbëresh
• → Greek: πουτάνα (poutána)

Anagrams

• puntata