macchiato

/ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ/

//ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"macchiato" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“macchiato” is uncommon English (frequency #63,774 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,774
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Espresso topped with steamed milk.

Corpus desk

Index EN-macchiato · macchiato · English

macchiato · rank #63,774 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,774
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Lupton

Nearest frequency peer: Lupton (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “macchiato”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “macchiato” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for macchiato
PropertyValue
Headwordmacchiato
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ/
Letters9
Frequency rank#63,774
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “macchiato” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).macchiatofalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Lupton” (#63,772), “maggiore” (#63,776), “Lucina” (#63,771). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “macchiato” is #63,774. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

macchiato is uncommon English at frequency #63,774 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for macchiato, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Italian caffè macchiato (“stained coffee”), from macchiato (“stained, marked”), as the coffee is “marked” with a spot of milk. From Latin maculātus (“stained”), form of macula (“stain”). Cognate to English macula (“[dark] spot”), French maculé. The correct English form is macchiato, spelled M-A-C-C-H-I-A-T-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Espresso topped with steamed milk.
  2. 2
    Ellipsis of latte macchiato.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how macchiato appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Formerly used only in Italy and Seattle, it includes such tongue activators as latte, lungo, cappuccino, ristretto, macchiato, mochaccino and Americano.
  2. Kadar Al-Jahani glanced around at the rich Romans and the American tourists sipping their macchiati and cappuccini, and smiled.

Etymology

From Italian caffè macchiato (“stained coffee”), from macchiato (“stained, marked”), as the coffee is “marked” with a spot of milk. From Latin maculātus (“stained”), form of macula (“stain”). Cognate to English macula (“[dark] spot”), French maculé.

Synonyms

caffè macchiatoespresso macchiato

This word in other languages

macchiato(Français)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "macchiato"?
"macchiato" is spelled M-A-C-C-H-I-A-T-O. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ/.
What does "macchiato" mean?
As a noun, "macchiato" means: Espresso topped with steamed milk.
How do you pronounce "macchiato"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "macchiato" is /ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "macchiato"?
From Italian caffè macchiato (“stained coffee”), from macchiato (“stained, marked”), as the coffee is “marked” with a spot of milk. From Latin maculātus (“stained”), form of macula (“stain”). Cognate to English macula (“[dark] spot”), French maculé. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "macchiato", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

litigator#63,766manhunter#63,782marshland#63,787lecherous#63,758

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list