Punchinello
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Somebody who resembles this character; a grotesque buffoon. broadly
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of Punchinello. alt-of
"The children of George III played with an eight-inch-long rattle made of gold and coral and decorated with gold bells. The little King of Rome, Napoleon's son, had one with the face formed as a punchinello with an ivory handle and eight bells, in fact, a poupard. This punchinello had Napoleon's face, made expressly in order for his son."
- 3 A small brown butterfly, Zemeros flegyas, family Riodinidae, of Asia.
- 1 A traditional Italian puppet, in the form of a short fat clown.
Example
More examples"The children of George III played with an eight-inch-long rattle made of gold and coral and decorated with gold bells. The little King of Rome, Napoleon's son, had one with the face formed as a punchinello with an ivory handle and eight bells, in fact, a poupard. This punchinello had Napoleon's face, made expressly in order for his son."
Etymology
From Italian Pulcinella or Neapolitan Pulecenella, of uncertain origin (see the Italian entry).
From Punchinello.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.