spaghetti

noun

spa·​ghet·​ti spə-ˈge-tē 

1

: pasta made in thin solid strings

2

: insulating tubing typically of varnished cloth or of plastic for covering bare wire or holding insulated wires together

spaghettilike

spə-ˈge-tē-ˌlīk 

adjective

Examples of spaghetti in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their list of requests includes canned tuna and meat, fruit, vegetables, spaghetti and sauces, beans, soup, peanut butter, rice, cereal, snack bars, pasta and instant noodles. —Samantha Gowen, Oc Register, 9 June 2025

Growing up, spaghetti was one of our staple weeknight dinners. —Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 June 2025

Other Jollibee menu items include hamburgers, sweet-style Jolly spaghetti and peach mango pie made with real Philippine mangoes, the company’s website said. —Marcus D. Smith, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2025

But on closer inspection, his pictures of idealized pies, spaghetti entanglements of highways, and gumball machines rimmed in blue halos required unpacking. —Air Mail, 24 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Italian, from plural of spaghetto, diminutive of spago cord, string, from Late Latin spacus

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing spaghetti

• spaghetti squash
• spaghetti strap
• spaghetti western

Rhymes for spaghetti

• confetti
• libretti
• betty
• chetty
• jetty
• petit
• sweaty
• yeti
• spermaceti

Kids Definition

spaghetti

noun

spa·​ghet·​ti spə-ˈget-ē 

: a food made chiefly of a mixture of flour and water dried in the form of thin solid strings

Etymology

from Italian spaghetti "pasta made in long strings," from spaghetti, plural of spaghetto "little string," from spago "string"

Word Origin

The Italian word spago means "cord, string." The suffix -etto in Italian, like the suffix -ette in English, means "little one." Added together, spago and -etto become spaghetto, which means "little string." "Little string" describes very well the shape of a strand of spaghetti. The word spaghetti is actually the plural form of spaghetto.