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

This stellar pasta twists around the black hole like spaghetti around a fork, forming a swirling flow of gas and dust known as an accretion disk that gradually feeds the cosmic titan. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 8 Jan. 2026

The menu includes hearty dishes like chicken Parmigiana, spaghetti and meatballs, and a New York strip alongside lighter options like shrimp cocktail; calamari, shrimp, lobster and crab in citronette; and a California salad with mangoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado. —Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas Morning News, 8 Jan. 2026

Why do spaghetti, linguine, and penne get to have all the fun? —Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 7 Jan. 2026

The red-sauce joint, noted for Italian-American staples like spaghetti and meatballs, gnocchi and saltimbocca, as well as its interior decor that hadn’t changed since the 1970s, went out on a high note, with tables booked until the very end. —Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 30 Dec. 2025

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.