spaghetti

[ spuh-get-ee ]

noun

1. a white, starchy pasta of Italian origin that is made in the form of long strings, boiled, and served with any of a variety of meat, tomato, or other sauces.
2. Electricity. an insulating tubing of small diameter into which bare wire can be slipped.

spaghetti

/ spəˈɡɛtɪ /

noun

1. pasta in the form of long strings

Usage Note

See zucchini.

Word History and Origins

Origin of spaghetti¹

1885–90; < Italian, plural of spaghetto, diminutive of spago thin rope < Late Latin spacus twine, probably < Greek sphákos long-threaded lichen

Word History and Origins

Origin of spaghetti¹

C19: from Italian: little cords, from spago a cord

Example Sentences

Taken together, these various Trumpian hot takes weren’t serious rationalizations; they were desperate attempts to throw rhetorical spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks.

From Los Angeles Times

“We’re throwing spaghetti on the wall, trying to see what sticks,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times

In a church basement in Illinois, someone cracks four eggs into a bowl of spaghetti, then folds the mixture into a battered casserole dish.

From Salon

I remember the first time I made spaghetti sauce from scratch, long before I understood ratios or had any true sense of technique.

From Salon

Some 68 years ago today, millions of people tuned into a BBC Panorama report about a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees.

From BBC

Related Words

• abdominal

How Do You Spell Spaghetti?

Spelling tips for spaghetti

The word spaghetti is hard to spell because, based on how it is pronounced, you wouldn’t expect that h to be there. The double t can also be easy to miss. 

How to spell spaghetti: To remember how to properly spell spaghetti, you can think of the phrase “There is a ghost in Betty’s spaghetti.” This reminds you that there is a g followed by an h in the middle of the word, like in the spelling of ghost. It also reminds you of the ending -ett, similar to the double t you find in the word Betty.