Tappeto
NOUN [masculine]
Meaning and English translation 🔖
1. Carpet, Rug
🇬🇧 A piece of fabric, usually rectangular, used to cover floors or walls.
🇮🇹 Porzione di tessuto, generalmente rettangolare, utilizzata per coprire pavimenti o pareti.
2. Floor covering
🇬🇧 Any type of covering that covers a surface, also figuratively.
🇮🇹 Qualsiasi tipo di rivestimento che copre una superficie, anche in senso figurato.
| Masculine ♂️ | Feminine ♀️ | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | il - un tappeto | - |
| Plural | i - dei tappeti | - |
Example sentences 💬
Il gatto ama dormire sul tappeto davanti al camino.
The cat loves to sleep on the rug in front of the fireplace.
I tappeti sono molto difficili da lavare.
Carpets are very difficult to wash.
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Idioms with tappeto 🇮🇹
A tappeto
→ Thoroughly, systematically
La polizia ha perquisito a tappeto tutta la zona.
The police thoroughly searched the entire area.
Bombardamento a tappeto
→ Carpet bombing
Durante la guerra, la città subì un bombardamento a tappeto.
During the war, the city underwent carpet bombing.
Andare/Finire al tappeto
→ To be knocked down, to be defeated
Il pugile è andato al tappeto al terzo round.
The boxer went down in the third round.
Mandare/Mettere al tappeto
→ To knock down, to defeat
La crisi economica ha messo al tappeto molte piccole imprese.
The economic crisis knocked down many small businesses.
Mettere sul tappeto
→ To bring up for discussion
È ora di mettere sul tappeto la questione degli straordinari.
It's time to bring up the matter of overtime for discussion.
Tappeto erboso
→ Lawn, grass carpet
Il tappeto erboso dello stadio era perfetto per la finale.
The stadium's turf was perfect for the final.
Tappeto volante
→ Flying carpet
Da bambino sognavo di volare su un tappeto volante come Aladino.
As a child, I dreamed of flying on a magic carpet like Aladdin.
Tappeto verde
→ Green felt (gambling table)
Ha perso tutti i suoi risparmi al tappeto verde.
He lost all his savings at the gambling table.
Tappetino (del bagno / della macchina)
→ Mat (literal: small carpet)
Metti il tappetino fuori dalla doccia per non scivolare.
Put the mat outside the shower so you don't slip.
Hai comprato i tappetini nuovi per la macchina?
Did you buy new car mats?
Where does the word tappeto come from? 🔎
Tappeto comes from Latin tapētu(m), which derives from Greek tápēs, -ētos, but its origin is even older: it goes back to the Persian root tap, meaning "to weave."
Interestingly, this same Persian root also gave birth to the word taffeta, through Persian tāfta (woven). The very sound of the word "tappeto" seems to evoke its materiality: the two syllables with the 't' sound separated by the double 'p' recall the thickness and texture of a knotted carpet.
