confetti
pronunciation
How to pronounce confetti in British English:
UK [kənˈfeti]
How to pronounce confetti in American English:
US [kənˈfɛti]
-
- Noun:
- small pieces or streamers of colored paper that are thrown around on festive occasions (as at a wedding)
Word Origin
- confetti
- confetti: [19] The Latin compound verb conficere meant ‘put together, make, prepare’ (it was formed from the prefix com- and facere ‘do, make’, source of English fact, factory, fashion, etc and related to English do). From its past participial stem was formed the noun confectiō, which passed into English, via Old French, as confection in the 14th century (by which time it already had its present-day association with sweets).But the past participle confectum also produced Old French confit, whence English comfit [15], and Italian confetto, which was a small sweet traditionally thrown during carnivals. The British adapted the missiles to weddings (displacing the traditional rice) at the end of the 19th century, using symbolic shreds of coloured paper rather than real sweets.=> comfit, confection, discomfit, do, fact, factory, fashion
- confetti (n.)
- 1815, from Italian plural of confetto "sweetmeat," via Old French, from Latin confectum, confectus (see confection). A small candy traditionally thrown during carnivals in Italy, custom adopted in England for weddings and other occasions, with symbolic tossing of paper.
Example
- 1. The custom of throwing confetti however , does not come from italy .
- 2. It 's an image I can 't shake to this day , bodies falling through a maze of what looked like confetti , but was paper flying out from desks inside the damaged building .
- 3. He throws out numbers like confetti : peter orszag , his usually impressive budget director , made a dismal job of explaining to congress where mr obama intended to find the $ 634 billion " down payment " he promised for health-care reform .