facchino

Italian

Etymology

From Sicilian facchinu (“jurist called upon to settle disputes related to customs”). Ultimately from Arabic فَقِيه‎ (faqīh, “theologian, jurisconsult, faqih”). Cognate with Spanish faquín, French faquin, Piedmontese fachin. The passage from a customs officer to porter would have occurred as a result of serious economic crisis in the Arab world, when, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the customs officers were forced – to survive – to the sale of fabrics that they themselves transported – on their shoulders – from square to square.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /fakˈki.no/
  • Rhymes: -ino
  • Syllabification: fac‧chì‧no

Noun

facchino m (plural facchini, feminine facchina)

  1. porter (person who carries luggage)
  2. (metonymically, by extension) roughness, indelicacy, or triviality
  3. the animal Dromia personata; sponge crab; sleepy crab

Derived terms

Further reading
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