129 cute Italian nicknames & terms of endearment: A fun guide

Amorino. Cucciolo. Mostriciattola! These are just three cute Italian nicknames that sound just as fun as they look. Curious to know what they mean? You’ll find their meanings along with 126 more Italian nicknames waiting for you in this article!

Using Italian terms of endearment can help build familiarity with new friends (and potential romantic interests!) while also enhancing your vocabulary and building your confidence in Italian.

In this article, you will learn:

• How to make your own nicknames by changing the endings of words
• Cute nicknames in Italian for your significant other
• Italian terms of endearment for friends and family
• Cute nicknames in Italian involving animals and food
• Cool Italian nicknames in slang that you can use with friends

Oh, and I almost forgot: you’ll also find numerous ways to show affection to your pets!

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Nicknames in Italian

Nicknames are very popular in Italian culture, and they’re great ways to express an emotional connection with friends and family. Certain terms of endearment can even change based on the different regions of Italy! For the most part, nicknames in Italian can involve shortening or adding a different suffix to a word. So, before we explore different nicknames in Italian, let’s examine how we can actually create them.

Diminutive forms

Throughout the article, many of the Italian nicknames and terms of endearment are words with diminutive (or augmentative) endings. Basically, changing the endings to words can intensify or add affection and emotion to them!

In Italian, the diminutive and augmentative endings also eliminate the need to always say piccolo (little) or molto (very) before a word. Keep this in mind when you see the English translations of Italian terms of endearment throughout this article.You could technically make anything into a nickname in Italian by adding a different suffix to the word. Let’s imagine that you have an inside joke with one of your amiciabout driving your little Fiat car around the Amalfi coast. To really drive the point home, you could call it a macchinina instead of just a macchina. And using these endings in nicknames comes with a bonus: they’re fun to say and they sound cute, too! So, the next time that your cat knocks over a vase, you could call him cativello instead of just cattivo. Your vase may still be shattered, but hopefully the cute name makes up for it! Of course, these endings will also need to match the gender and number of what you’re referring to. Check out our examples here, and look out for them throughout the article!

1. -ino / -ina / -ini / -ine

Examples:

• mamma → mammina (mother / mommy)
• piccolo → piccolino (little / very little)

2. -etto / -etta / -etti / -ette

Examples:

• angiolo → angioletto (angel / little angel)
• cugina → cuginetta (cousin / little cousin)

3. -ello / -ella / -elli / -ette

Examples:

• cattivo → cattivello (bad / a small, bad child or person - masculine)
• cattiva → cattivella (bad / a small, bad child or person - feminine)

4. -uccio / -uccia / -ucci / -ucce

Examples:

• tesoro → tesoruccio (treasure / little treasure)
• tesora → tesoruccia (treasure / little treasure)

5. -otto / -otta / -otti / -otte

Examples:

• bambolo → bambolotto (doll / little doll)
• bambola → bambolotta (doll / little doll)

6. -acchiotto / -acchiotta / -accihotti / -accihotte

Examples:

• lupo → lupacchiotto (wolf / little wolf)
• lupo → lupacchiotta (wolf / little wolf)

7. -iciattolo / -iciattola / -iciattoli / -iciattole

Examples:

• mostricio → mostriciattolo (monster / little monster)
• mostricia → mostriciattola (monster / little monster)

Augmentative forms

If you have something “bigger” in mind, the following common endings can change the meaning of your nickname or word to big, very, or the superlative forms.Once again, you could create your own nicknames or fun versions of ordinary words by adding on these endings. So, the next time you’re at a trattoria with your amico and his portion of tagliatelle is bigger than expected, you could call it a piattone instead of just a piatto di pasta!

Big

1. one / -ona / -oni

Examples:

• mamma → dormiglione (mother / big sleeper - masculine)
• piccolo → dormigliona (little / big sleeper - feminine)

You might also notice -one / -ona used for affectionate terms, like micione (kitty/cat) or coccolone (someone/something that loves cuddles).

2. -acchione / -acchiona / -accihoni

Examples:

• furbo → furbacchione (sly / very sly)
• furba → furbacchiona (sly / very sly)

Most / Superlative

3. -issimo / -issima / -issimi / -issime

Examples:

• bello → bellissimo (handsome / most handsome)
• cara → carissima (dear / dearest)

Now that you’re familiar with how to alter words and create nicknames, let’s delve into our 129 different examples!

Gender-neutral romantic nicknames in Italian

If you’re looking for some gender-neutral terms of endearment in Italian, then this table is for you. Whether you want to call someone your dolce metà or your splendore, you’ll have lots of romantic nicknames to choose from with this list! You could even pair them with all the different ways to say “Ti amo!”.

Husband and boyfriend nicknames in Italian

This list contains the most classic, romantic nicknames for your husband or boyfriend, as well as some cute ones that you can have fun with, like mostriciattolo (little monster) and tesoruccio (little treasure).

*Caro also means “expensive”, and “carissimo” can also be used to refer to something that is very expensive.

Italian nicknames for your girlfriend or wife

This list contains the feminine versions of the previous table as well as some common girlfriend-or-wife-specific nicknames, like stella (star) or fiore mio (my flower). Speaking of flowers, check out this Italian love song, Fiore Mio, to hear this romantic nickname in action!

Italian nicknames for your grandmother and other family members

This table contains many terms of endearment for people in your family, ranging from grandparents to pets. In fact, you’ll notice that many of the nicknames applied to babies are also appropriate for pets!

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Funny Italian nicknames

This next set of nicknames includes terms of endearment that are downright fun to say! So that you don’t risk offending anyone, it’s worth noting that these nicknames should only be used with people that you’re very close with (or pets, of course). These should never be used in formal settings or offensively.

Cute Italian nicknames: Food-inspired

Italy is known as the food capital of the world, so it makes sense that many nicknames involve food! All of these tasty terms of endearment could be affectionately used for close friends, children, significant others, and pets.

Cute Italian nicknames: Animal-inspired

Just like the food-related nicknames, all of these cute Italian animal terms could be affectionately used for close friends, children, significant others, and pets!

Slang Italian nicknames

If you’re heading out for an aperitivo with your Italian friends, be sure to keep this list in mind. These terms of endearment are commonly used amongst groups of friends (especially long-term friends) and are a great introduction into the ever-evolving world of Italian slang!

Ok, raga’, alla prossima!

Now that you have 129 different nicknames and terms of endearment ready to use, it’s time to implement them in conversation with friends and loved ones. And if you’re looking to dive deeper into all of those diminutive and augmentative endings, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out more ways to study Italian online. See you for the next article, ami’!