What does boccie mean?
Boccie is a noun naming a popular outdoor game of Italian origin, closely related to lawn bowling and French pétanque. Played individually or in teams, it involves rolling or tossing large balls across a court or open ground toward a much smaller target ball, called the pallino; points go to the side whose balls finish closest to the target. The game requires little equipment, tolerates uneven terrain, and rewards both precision and tactical knocking of opponents' balls out of scoring position. Brought to the United States by Italian immigrants, boccie became especially associated with community life in cities like New York, where public courts still host daily games. The spelling boccie coexists with bocce and bocci, which denote the same game; bocce is the form most often used in formal and international settings. Casual in register and strongly social in connotation, boccie evokes leisurely afternoons, friendly rivalry, and multigenerational gatherings.
nounA game similar to lawn bowls and pétanque, played with several large balls that are rolled or tossed toward a smaller target ball; also spelled bocce or bocci.
- A game resembling lawn bowls, of Italian origin, in which balls are rolled toward a smaller target ball.
"The retirees gathered every Sunday afternoon for a spirited game of boccie in the park."
"Every summer evening, the neighborhood's older residents filled the courts to play boccie."
"He won the family reunion boccie tournament with a final throw that knocked his cousin's ball out of position."
When naming the game, boccie functions as an uncountable noun and has no plural. The plural boccies appears only informally to refer to the individual balls, where "boccie balls" is far more common.
"He collected the scattered boccies from the edge of the court."
Italians brought boccie to America, where it became so beloved in New York parks that official courts were built just to keep the games rolling.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of boccie
Boccie derives from the Italian word boccia, meaning "ball," which itself traces back through late Latin to earlier words for a rounded vessel or container. The game traveled with Italian emigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, taking root in American cities and giving English its various spellings—bocce, bocci, and boccie—all referring to the same pastime.
How boccie is actually used
Boccie is chiefly an American spelling, common among communities of Italian descent; the spellings bocce and bocci refer to the identical game and appear more often in formal or international contexts.
Easily confused with boccie
Bocce is the standard spelling of the same Italian game, while boccie is a common American variant spelling.
Bogey is a golf term meaning one stroke over par on a hole, whereas boccie is an entirely different game played by rolling balls toward a target.