What does ziti mean?
Ziti is a type of Italian pasta made from short, hollow tubes with ridged surfaces. The pasta resembles penne, but its pronounced ridges help it hold chunky sauces, and it is commonly baked with tomato sauce, cheese, and meatballs in Italian-American cooking. In ordinary usage, “ziti” names the food as a mass noun: a serving may be a bowl of ziti, and the usual plural is also ziti. The word comes from Italian, where ziti is the plural of zito, an old term for a bridegroom, giving the pasta an unexpected connection to weddings. Ziti is most common in American English but is also used in Britain, especially when discussing Italian food. It is worth knowing because it names a specific, recognizable tube-shaped pasta rather than merely a generic pasta shape, and because its culinary name preserves a piece of older Italian vocabulary.
nounA type of Italian pasta consisting of short, hollow tubes with ridged surfaces, traditionally served with tomato-based sauces and sometimes baked with cheese and meatballs.
- A type of Italian pasta consisting of short, hollow, ridged tubes.
"She baked ziti with tomato sauce and mozzarella for Sunday dinner."
"The restaurant serves ziti baked with mozzarella and meatballs."
"For an Italian-American dinner, I chose a large bowl of ziti with meatball sauce."
The usual plural is also ziti, especially when the word is treated as a mass noun; zitis is also a listed dictionary plural.
"The caterer prepared two trays of ziti."
Ziti has a surprising wedding connection: Italian ziti is the plural of zito, an old term for a bridegroom.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ziti come from?
Ziti was borrowed from Italian, where ziti is the plural of zito, an old Italian term for a bridegroom. In English, the culinary term refers specifically to ridged, hollow tube-shaped pasta and became particularly familiar through Italian-American cooking.
How ziti is actually used
In restaurant usage, ziti is generally treated as a mass noun, although zitis is also a listed plural in dictionaries. The term is especially common in American English but is also used in Britain.
Easily confused with ziti
Both are hollow tubular pastas, but ziti has pronounced ridges, whereas penne usually has a smooth surface and angled ends.
Rigatoni is generally larger than ziti, although restaurants sometimes use the names loosely for similar ridged tubular pasta.