zucchetto

[ zoo-ket-oh; Italian tsook-ket-taw ]

noun

, plural zuc·chet·tos, Italian zuc·chet·ti [tsook-, ket, -tee].

1. a small, round skullcap worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, a priest's being black, a bishop's violet, a cardinal's red, and the pope's white; calotte.

zucchetto

/ zuː-; suː-; tsuːˈkɛtəʊ /

noun

1. RC Church a small round skullcap worn by certain ecclesiastics and varying in colour according to the rank of the wearer, the Pope wearing white, cardinals red, bishops violet, and others black

Word History and Origins

Origin of zucchetto¹

1850–55; < Italian, variant of zucchetta, diminutive of zucca gourd, head, perhaps < pre-Indo-European *tjukka gourd

Word History and Origins

Origin of zucchetto¹

C19: from Italian, from zucca a gourd, head, from Late Latin cucutia gourd, probably from Latin cucurbita

Example Sentences

So when a photo surfaced this weekend, just before the fifth Sunday of Lent, of Pope Francis in a long, white, trendy-looking puffer coat with his traditional pectoral cross and white zucchetto cap, it’s not hard to imagine what happened next: People went wild.

From Washington Post

The boy several times pointed to the pope's white skull cap, known as a zucchetto.

From Reuters

Marissa Zucchetto got the shutout.

From Seattle Times

Wojnowski got excited when he saw the flash of a violet zucchetto — the skullcap worn by a bishop — through a car window and raised his giant sign like a barbell and waved it back and forth with uncanny strength and control.

From Washington Post

On a rooftop outside the Vatican, where sea gulls have ripped to shreds peace doves released out the pope’s window, I watched as a pair ominously swooped above the purple zucchetto, or skullcap, of the Vatican foreign minister.

From Seattle Times