Carbonara
//ˌkɑɹbəˈnɑɹə// name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A thick Italian pasta sauce, made with guanciale, grated cheese, beaten egg yolks and pepper. countable, uncountable
"One of my own grand carbonaras, some crisp and spicy greens, a clean Tuscan white, a pint of raspberry sorbet, a pot of freshly ground strong coffee, and a long beguiling night on my couch in pajamas with cannabis, good TV, and no qualms about the future, please."
- 2 sauce for pasta; contains eggs and bacon or ham and grated cheese wordnet
- 3 A spaghetti dish made using such a sauce. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 4 A spaghetti dish made using a similar sauce made from a different type of cured pork than guanciale (such as bacon, pancetta, lardons, gammon or ham). broadly, countable, proscribed, sometimes, uncountable
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname from Italian.
Example
More examples"Today there is spaghetti carbonara for dinner."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From the Italian carbonara, shortening of alla carbonara (literally “in the manner of charcoal burners”, or “in the manner of the Carbonari”), ultimately from carbone (“coal”).
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Italian Carbonara.
Related phrases
More for "carbonara"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.