selvaggio

See also: Selvaggio

Italian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan salvatge, from Vulgar Latin *salvāticus, from Latin silvāticus (“of the woods”). Doublet of the inherited selvatico. Compare Sicilian sarbaggiu, Spanish salvaje, Portuguese selvagem, Catalan salvatge, Piedmontese salvaj.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /selˈvad.d͡ʒo/
  • Rhymes: -addʒo
  • Hyphenation: sel‧vàg‧gio
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

selvaggio (feminine selvaggia, masculine plural selvaggi, feminine plural selvagge)

  1. (of flora or fauna) wild, savage
    Synonym: selvatico
    • 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno [The Divine Comedy: Hell], 12th edition (paperback), Le Monnier, published 1994, Canto I, page 6, lines 4–6:
      Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura ¶ esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte ¶ che nel pensier rinova la paura!
      Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say what was this forest savage, rough, and stern, which in the very thought renews the fear
  2. savage, primitive (of people)
  3. ferocious
  4. brutal, cruel (torture)

Noun

selvaggio m (plural selvaggi)

  1. savage

Derived terms
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