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PlainSpell

spaghetti

spagh·et·ti/spəˈɡɛti/noun, verb

spaghetti is spelled S-P-A-G-H-E-T-T-I: 9 letters and 3 syllables (spagh·et·ti). It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spaghetti means “A type of pasta made in the shape of long thin strings” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spaghetti is spaghettis.

How many letters and syllables are in spaghetti?

Letters9: S-P-A-G-H-E-T-T-I
Syllables3: spagh·et·ti
In writing4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 spaghetti?

Spaghetti appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th 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 spaghetti?

  • UK /spəˈɡɛti/
  • US /spəˈɡɛti/
  • US [-ɾi]

Spaghetti has 3 syllables, split spagh·et·ti in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-spaghetti.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with spaghetti?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spaghetti from its last stressed vowel (/ɛti/):

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 spaghetti

  • spaghettis plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • spaghettiing participle, present
  • spaghettied participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does spaghetti mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A type of pasta made in the shape of long thin strings.

    Her mother was cooking spaghetti for dinner.

  2. 2

    A dish that has spaghetti (noun 1 sense 1) as a main part of it, such as spaghetti bolognese.

  3. 3

    derogatoryinformalAn Italian person.

  4. 4

    Ellipsis of spaghetti western (“a motion picture depicting a story of cowboys and desperadoes set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company and filmed in Europe, notably in Italy”).

  5. 5

    informalSomething physically resembling spaghetti (noun 1 sense 1) in appearance or consistency, or in being tangled.

    spaghetti grid    spaghetti junction    spaghetti limbs    spaghetti strap    spaghetti stripes

  6. 6

    informalElectrical insulating tubing or electrical wiring.

  7. 7

    informalRoads forming a complex junction, especially one with multiple levels on a motorway.

  8. 8

    informalDisorderly strands of filament, caused by an error during the printing process.

    Coordinate term: blob of death

  9. 9

    rareplural of spaghetto (a form of spaghetto)

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo serve (someone) spaghetti (noun noun 1 sense 1).

  2. 2

    informalTo cause (someone or something) to become, or appear to become, longer and thinner; to stretch.

    He spaghettied the referee when he landed on him.

  3. 3

    informalTo cause (something) to become tangled.

  4. 4

    informalTo eat spaghetti (noun noun 1 sense 1).

  5. 5

    informalTo become, or appear to become, longer and thinner.

  6. 6

    informalTo become tangled.

    The cables spaghettied onto the shoulder of the technician.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate spaghetti?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of spaghetti: spag.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Spaghetti in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchspaghettis (type of pasta made in the shape of long thin…), gaine (electrical insulating tubing; electrical wiring)
GermanSpaghetti, Spagetti (type of pasta made in the shape of long thin…), Isolationsschlauch (electrical insulating tubing; electrical wiring)
Portuguesespaghetti, espaguete, esparguete (type of pasta made in the shape of long thin…)
Spanishespagueti (type of pasta made in the shape of long thin…)

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 spaghetti come from?

The noun is borrowed from Italian spaghetti, the plural of spaghetto (“strand of spaghetti”), from spago (“cord, string, twine; thread”) + -etto (diminutive suffix). Spago is derived from Latin spagus (“twine”), probably from Ancient Greek σφάκος (sphákos, “apple sage (Salvia pomifera)”), probably from Pre-Greek. The verb is derived from the noun.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after spaghetti