bagattella

Italian

Alternative forms

• bagatella

Etymology

Diminutive of dialectal bagata (“little property”), from Late Latin baga, from Latin bāca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ɡatˈtɛl.la/
• Rhymes: -ɛlla
• Hyphenation: ba‧gat‧tèl‧la

Noun

bagattella f (plural bagattelle)

1. trifle (small, unimportant thing)
2. (music) bagatelle (all senses)

Descendants

• → French: bagatelle
  • → Catalan: bagatel·la
  • → Danish: bagatel
  • → Dutch: bagatel
  • → English: bagatelle
  • → German: Bagatelle
  • → Greek: μπαγκατέλα (bagkatéla)
• → Portuguese: bagatela
• →? Sicilian: barattella, baratteḍḍa (mainly plural)

References

• “bagatelle”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “bagatelle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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