Buffo
ADJECTIVE
Meaning and English translation 🔖
1. Funny, ridiculous
🇬🇧 That provokes laughter due to its strangeness or peculiarity; ridiculous.
🇮🇹 Che eccita il riso per stranezza o singolarità; ridicolo.
2. Odd
🇬🇧 Strange, bizarre, peculiar, sometimes with a negative connotation.
🇮🇹 Strano, bizzarro, curioso, a volte con una connotazione negativa.
| Masculine ♂️ | Feminine ♀️ | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Buffo | Buffa |
| Plural | Buffi | Buffe |
Example sentences 💬
Sei davvero buffo vestito così.
You look really funny dressed like that.
La mia vicina è una signora buffa che parla con le sue piante.
My neighbor is a funny lady who talks to her plants.
I suoi cappelli buffi attirano sempre l'attenzione.
Her bizarre hats always draw attention.
Le espressioni buffe di mia nonna quando usa il cellulare mi fanno sempre ridere.
My grandmother's funny expressions when using her smartphone always make me laugh.
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Idioms with buffo 🇮🇹
Il buffo è che...
→ The funny thing is...
Dicevano di essere tutti degli esperti, ma il buffo è che nessuno sapeva cosa fare per risolvere la vicenda.
The funny thing is that they all claimed to be experts, but none of them knew what to do to resolve the situation.
Note: here buffo is used a noun
Fare il buffone
→ To act like a clown
Smettila di fare il buffone e comportati seriamente!
Stop clowning around and be serious!
Buffonata
→ Nonsense, farce
L'esame è stato una vera buffonata, le domande erano ridicole.
The exam was a complete farce, the questions were ridiculous.
Where does the word buffo come from? 🔎
Buffo derives from an onomatopoeia that imitates the sound of blowing (buff). This root is connected to the act of puffing one's cheeks to blow, a typical gesture of jesters who made people laugh, also known as "court buffoons". From this evolved the meaning of "comic, amusing" and later "strange, odd".
