Nocciola
/notˈtʃɔːla/noun
The Italian word for a hazelnut, also used in English culinary contexts for hazelnut flavor or paste.
Did you know?Nocciola ultimately traces back to Latin nux, the ordinary Roman word for a nut, whose diminutive forms also produced the ancestor of English nucleus.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*knewk-
“Nut or fruit with a hard shell”
Classical Latin
Latin
nux, nucis
“Nut, especially a hard-shelled tree fruit”
Late Latin
Latin
nuc(e)ola
“Small nut; a diminutive form derived from nux”
Medieval Italian
Italian
nocchio / nocciola
“Hazel or hazelnut; nocciola developed as the diminutive form”
Modern Italian
Italian
nocciola
“Hazelnut”
20th Century
English
nocciola
“A culinary loanword for hazelnut, hazelnut paste, or hazelnut flavor”