fiasco

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fiasco (“bottle, flask”), from Late Latin flasca, flascō (“bottle, container”), from Frankish *flaskā (“bottle, flask”) from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“bottle”); see flask. “Failure” sense comes through French faire fiasco from Italian theatrical slang far fiasco (literally “to make a bottle”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from an expression fare il fiasco, meaning to play a game with the forfeit that the loser will buy the next bottle or round of drinks.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiˈæs.kəʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

fiasco (plural fiascos or fiascoes)

1. A sudden or unexpected failure.
2. A ludicrous or humiliating situation. Some effort that went quite wrong.

   Synonym: debacle

3. A wine bottle in a (usually straw) jacket.

Translations

See also

• fiasci (hypercorrect plural)
• fiaschi (Italianate plural; often considered pedantic)

References

• Concise Oxford Dictionary, s. v. fiasco.
• Compact Oxford English Dictionary on-line.
• The Word Detective, Issue of Oct 30, 2001.

Further reading

• Fiasco (bottle) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Facios, cafiso, fascio-

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fiasco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian)

Noun

fiasco m (plural fiascos)

1. fiasco (situation)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fiasco. Doublet of flasque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fjas.ko/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

fiasco m (plural fiascos)

1. fiasco (situation)
2. fiasco (bottle)

Further reading

• “fiasco”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Late Latin flascō, flasca (“bottle, container”), from Old Frankish *flaska (“bottle, flask”), from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“bottle”), from Proto-Germanic *flehtaną (“to plait”), from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to weave, braid”). Akin to Old High German flasca (“flask”), Old English flasce, flaxe (“bottle”). More at flask.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfja.sko/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -asko
• Hyphenation: fià‧sco

Noun

fiasco m (plural fiaschi)

1. flask
2. fiasco
3. flagon
4. (figurative) debacle, failure

Related terms

• fiasca
• fiaschetteria

Descendants

Anagrams

• cafiso, fascio, fasciò, sfocai, sfocia

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fiasco. Doublet of frasco.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -asku, (Portugal, Rio de Janeiro) -aʃku
• Hyphenation: fi‧as‧co

Noun

fiasco m (plural fiascos)

1. fiasco (ludicrous or humiliating situation)

   Synonym: fracasso

See also

• frasco
• chasco

References

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fiasco.

Noun

fiasco n (uncountable)

1. fiasco.

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fiasco. Doublet of frasco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfjasko/
• Rhymes: -asko
• Syllabification: fias‧co

Noun

fiasco m (plural fiascos)

1. fiasco

   Synonym: fracaso

Further reading

• “fiasco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014