Negroni

noun

Ne·​gro·​ni ni-ˈgrō-nē How to pronounce Negroni (audio)
variants or less commonly negroni
plural Negronis also negronis
: a cocktail consisting of equal parts gin, Campari, and usually sweet vermouth
A Negroni is always stirred and always garnished with an orange peel.Jason Wilson
It took some time into the tasting before the panel found a Negroni they truly endorsed. Some were too thin or weak; they didn't have that bracing botanical punch one looks for in the drink …Robert Simonson
My husband … likes a cocktail hour before dining. At home, this means he whips up negronis or Manhattans for us, and we sit sipping our drinks and nibbling cheese.Ann Hood

Examples of Negroni in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web At which point bar patrons must wonder what, exactly, went into their Negronis. Ben Oliver, Robb Report, 9 Mar. 2024 To see how Asunción is changing, take the elevator up to Negroni Rooftop, a cocktail bar in the ritzier, eastern part of town, where the view is the main draw. Laurence Blair, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024 Zero-proof options include a Phony Negroni ($11), herbal tea and a Chef’s Spirit ($6) of iced coffee and Mexican Coke. Details: Open for lunch and dinner Wednesday-Sunday at 1746 Solano Ave., Berkeley; elsiesonsolano.com. John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2024 As far as drinks go, there’s a large selection of Italian wines, as well as several different Negroni and Martini variations. Tori Latham, Robb Report, 4 Mar. 2024 And for those in a real hurry to get to the theater: the Negroni bar serves a quick pre-curtain pasta and aperitivo. Laurie Werner, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024 Most cocktails with Campari tend to be either intense and boozy, like a Negroni or Rosita, or tropical and juicy, like a Bitter Piña Colada or the Jungle Bird. Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 17 Feb. 2024 Both the Milano-Torino and the Americano are ancestors to the Negroni, which, according to Florentine lore, was invented in 1919 when Count Camillo Negroni asked the bartender at Caffè Casoni to substitute gin for his Americano’s soda water. Rebekah Peppler, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2024 The complimentary three-drink lineup includes the Brooklyn, a Vesper martini, and a sweet-smelling Negroni that will transport you Upstate thanks to the aromatic, tart apple gin from Hudson Valley that’s been mixed in there. Chadner Navarro, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Negroni.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

probably after Count Camillo (or Cammillo) Negroni †1934, Italian nobleman for whom the drink was allegedly first mixed

Note: This etymology follows the story forcefully promoted by the Italian barman Luca Picchi in the book Negroni cocktail: Una leggenda italiana (Florence/Milan: Giunti, 2015), published also in an English edition. According to Picchi, the drink was created between 1917 and 1920 by Fosco Scarselli, the barman at the Caffè Casoni in Florence, when Camillo Negroni asked for an Americano (a mixture of sweet vermouth and Campari) with something stronger added; Scarselli responded by mixing into the drink a small amount of gin. When Negroni continued to ask for the drink, it drew the curiosity of others in the bar, and the Count Negroni-style Americano was dubbed the Negroni. Picchi's documentation for this tale appears to be an interview with Scarselli published in the November 25, 1962, edition of the Italian magazine Gente. He has, however, what may be a conclusive piece of evidence supporting an early date for Negroni: in a letter to Count Negroni dated October 13, 1920, Francis Harper, a London antiques dealer, suggests that he "not take more than 20 Negroni's in one day!" His book includes a clearly legible illustration of the letter (p. 85). References to the cocktail in print are few before the 1950's. A recipe for it in Spanish and English, under the name "Negrone," appears in Floridita Cock-tails (1939), a booklet given out as a souvenir by Constantino Ribalaigua's bar El Floridita in Havana, Cuba. The cocktail next turns up in an Italian compilation of recipes, Cocktails Portfolio (1947), by the barman Amedeo Gandiglio, published in Turin in 1947. In December, 1947, the Hollywood gossip columnist Erskine Johnson mentions it in his nationally syndicated newspaper column: "Orson Welles, working in 'Cagliostro' in Rome, writes that he's discovered a new drink there—Negronis. It's made of gin, Italian vermouth and Campari bitters." Note that the Industria Liquori G. Negroni, a manufacturer of liqueurs founded by Gugliemo Negroni in Treviso in 1919, has no connection with the cocktail other than coincidence of name, which it has undoubtedly traded on. And the descendants of a Corsica-born French general, Pascal-Olivier, Comte de Negroni (1829-1913) claim that their ancestor introduced the Negroni in Senegal in 1855-65—a story that has several serious improbabilities.

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Negroni was in 1947

Dictionary Entries Near Negroni

Cite this Entry

“Negroni.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Negroni. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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