al dente

See also: aldente

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian al dente (literally to the tooth).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /æl ˈdɛn.teɪ/, /æl ˈdɛn.ti/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛnteɪ, -ɛnti

Adjective

al dente (comparative more al dente, superlative most al dente)

  1. (of pasta, vegetables, rice, beans, etc.) Firm to the bite, cooked just right.

Usage notes

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian al dente.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌɑl ˈdɛn.tə/
  • Audio:(file)

Phrase

al dente

  1. al dente
    Synonym: beetgaar

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian al dente.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [alˈdɛntə]
  • Audio:(file)

Adjective

al dente (indeclinable)

  1. al dente

Further reading

  • al dente” in Duden online
  • al dente” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Italian

Etymology

Literally, to the tooth, a shortening duro al dente (hard for the tooth), croccante al dente (crunchy for the tooth) etc. with the ellipsis being reinforced by the fact that al/alla is commonly found in these contexts to indicate dish ingredients.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /al ˈdɛn.te/
  • Hyphenation: al‧dèn‧te

Phrase

al dente

  1. (pasta) Firm to the bite, cooked just right.
    pasta al dentenoodles to the tooth
  2. (cooking) Just right to the bite.
    cotto al dentecooked to the tooth

Anagrams

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian al dente.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈal ˈdɛn.tɛ/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Syllabification: al den‧te

Adjective

al dente (not comparable, no derived adverb)

  1. (of pasta, cooking) al dente

Further reading

  • al dente in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • al dente in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /al ˈdente/ [al̪ ˈd̪ẽn̪.t̪e]
  • Syllabification: al den‧te

Adjective

al dente (invariable)

  1. al dente

Adverb

al dente

  1. al dente

Further reading