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

The lunch and dinner menu hew to the traditional end of the spectrum, with dishes like spaghetti all’amatriciana and Florentine steak. —Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Mar. 2026

This gives you a chance to recover nicely from storing that batch of spaghetti and meatballs in your favorite container. —Melissa Locker, Southern Living, 15 Mar. 2026

Videos like Will Smith fighting a spaghetti monster and clips of the cast of Friends reimagined as otters also performed well on social media. —Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 15 Mar. 2026

The menu is similar to the London restaurant, with popular entrees like spaghetti and lobster or the mezze maniche (short, tubular pasta) all carbonara with seasonal truffle. —Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, 14 Mar. 2026

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.