Gnocchi

//ˈnjoʊ.ki// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Italian pasta-like dumpling(s) made of potato or semolina. countable, plural-normally, uncountable

    "Dip each gnocco into the flour, shaking off excess. Carefully lower the gnocchi, one at a time, into the simmering water. Cook a few at a time since they must not touch each other while cooking. The gnocchi will be cooked when they rise to the surface; this should take 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the gnocchi."

  2. 2
    (Italian) a small dumpling made of potato or flour or semolina that is boiled or baked and is usually served with a sauce or with grated cheese wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
macaroni

Example

More examples

"Briefly remove the boiling water from the heat and carefully put the gnocchi into it one by one."

Etymology

From Italian gnocchi, plural of gnocco (“dumpling”, literally “lump”), related to nocchio (“knot (in wood)”), a borrowing from Lombardic knohha (“knuckle, bone, knot”), from Proto-Germanic *knukô (“bone”), *kneukaz (“tuber, knuckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew- (“knot, bundle”). Cognate with Middle High German knoche (“bone, knot”) (modern German Knochen), Middle Dutch knoke (“knuckle, knob, knot”), Swedish knoge (“knuckle”). More at knuckle.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.