What does brindisi mean?
A brindisi is a ceremonial toast — often sung — in which drinkers raise their glasses to honour a person, an occasion, or simply the pleasure of good company. The term entered English from Italian, where it remains the standard word for such a toast, and it is closely associated with Italian social and musical life: many celebrated operas, including Verdi's La Traviata and Donizetti's Don Pasquale, feature famous brindisi numbers in which characters raise their cups in song. In English usage the word carries a warm, festive connotation and appears chiefly in contexts relating to Italy, music, and formal celebration, though it can describe any ritualised round of toasting. Because it denotes a communal act rather than a mere clink of glasses, calling something a brindisi suggests ceremony, conviviality, and a touch of Old World elegance. For anyone writing about opera, banquets, or Italian custom, brindisi is a precise and evocative choice of word.
nounA brindisi is a short song or ceremonial toast performed while drinking, especially one in which a group raises their glasses and sings or recites in someone's honour.
- A ceremonial toast or short song sung while raising glasses in someone's honour.
"The evening ended with the whole table rising to sing a brindisi in honour of the bride and groom."
"At midnight the host called for a brindisi, and every guest lifted a glass of Prosecco."
"Verdi's La Traviata opens its first act with a sparkling brindisi celebrating the pleasures of wine and love."
Like other Italian loanwords ending in -i, brindisi is normally left unchanged in the plural; an anglicised 'brindisis' is occasionally seen but less accepted.
"Throughout the banquet, one brindisi followed another until well past midnight."
When Italians sing at the table with glasses raised, they're performing a brindisi — a tradition so beloved it gives its name to famous operatic drinking songs by Verdi and Puccini.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brindisi
Brindisi was borrowed into English from Italian in the early nineteenth century. The Italian word derives from 'brindare', to drink a toast, which itself comes from the earlier expression 'brindare a' — ultimately from Germanic roots via the phrase 'ich bring dir's', meaning 'I bring it to you'. The same borrowing produced Spanish 'brindis', showing how widely this Germanic-into-Romance transfer travelled.
How brindisi is actually used
The word is borrowed from Italian and retains a distinctly continental, celebratory flavour; it is most at home in writing about music, opera, and Italian culture rather than everyday English speech. In Italian, the plural is identical to the singular.
Easily confused with brindisi
The common noun 'brindisi' means a drinking toast or toast-song, whereas Brindisi is also the name of a port city in southern Italy — the word for the toast comes from Italian, not directly from the city.