pentimento
pen·ti·men·to/ˌpɛntəˈmɛntoʊ/noun
pentimento is spelled P-E-N-T-I-M-E-N-T-O: 10 letters and 4 syllables (pen·ti·men·to). It appears about once in every 78 million words in written English, the 279,513th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pentimento means “The presence of traces of a previous work in an artistic or literary work; especially (painting) an image which has been painted over but is still…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pentimento is pentimenti or pentimentos.
How many letters and syllables are in pentimento?
| Letters | 10: P-E-N-T-I-M-E-N-T-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: pen·ti·men·to |
| In writing | about once in every 78 million words; the 279,513th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pentimento?
Pentimento appears about once in every 78 million words in written English, the 279,513th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pentimento?
- UK /ˌpɛntɪˈmɛntəʊ/
- US /ˌpɛntəˈmɛntoʊ/
- US [-ɾə-]
Pentimento has 4 syllables, split pen·ti·men·to in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pentimento.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with pentimento?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pentimento from its last stressed vowel (/ɛntoʊ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pentimento
- pentimenti plural
- pentimentos plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pentimento mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The presence of traces of a previous work in an artistic or literary work; especially (painting) an image which has been painted over but is still detectable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pentimento in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense presence of traces of a previous work in an artistic or literary work:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | repentir |
| German | Pentimenti, Pentiment, Reuestrich |
| Portuguese | pentimento |
| Spanish | pentimento |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pentimento come from?
[Alt: A blue-tinted painting of a man's bent neck, with a faint image of a woman's face in its background] Learned borrowing from Italian pentimento (“repentance, penance, penitence; remorse; change of opinion; correction; traces of a previous image or work in an artwork”), from pentìrsi (“to repent; to regret”) + -mento (suffix forming nouns representing the actions of verbs to which it is attached). Pentìrsi is derived from Latin paenitēre, the present active infinitive of paeniteō (“to cause to repent; to repent; to be sorry, regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate; to hurt”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).