What does barocco mean?
Barocco is a relatively uncommon English spelling of Baroque, the name given to an influential European artistic style that flourished from the 17th through the early 18th century. The style is associated with drama, movement, rich ornament, strong contrasts of light and shadow, and an emotional intensity found especially in architecture, painting, sculpture, and music. It developed in contexts such as the Catholic Counter-Reformation, royal and aristocratic courts, and major theatrical and religious settings. Although its vocabulary and expansive forms may sometimes seem excessive by modern standards, they were deliberate expressions of grandeur, emotion, and spectacle. In English, barocco is broadly interchangeable with the standard spelling baroque and is most often encountered in scholarly writing, museum and architectural contexts, or discussions of historical music. Its unusual spelling helps reveal the word’s Italian heritage: the Italian original referred to an irregular pearl, whose strikingly varied form became an apt metaphor for the style’s elaborate, swirling character.
nounA relatively uncommon English spelling of Baroque, denoting the ornate and theatrical style that developed in European art and architecture during the 17th and early 18th centuries.
- The ornate, expressive artistic style characteristic of European art, architecture, music, sculpture, and decoration of the 17th and early 18th centuries.
"The concert presented music from the barocco period alongside Renaissance compositions."
"The curator described the gilded interior as a theatrical example of barocco."
"The course examines how barocco decoration transformed churches and palaces across Europe."
The regular plural is rarely needed because barocco is normally used as a mass noun for the style or historical period.
"The catalogue includes several baroccos from Italian workshops."
The name of this opulent style began with an Italian word for an irregularly shaped pearl.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does barocco come from?
The English word ultimately derives from Italian barocco, which originally referred to an irregular or misshapen pearl. The term was later applied to the ornate artistic style because its elaborate forms were likened to such a pearl. French baroque and English baroque are cognates that preserve a closely related form of the word.
How barocco is actually used
Chiefly a formal, specialist label found in writing about art history, architecture, music, and the decorative arts; it is uncommon in everyday speech.
Easily confused with barocco
Baroque is the standard English spelling, while barocco is an established but less common alternative spelling of the same term.