What does scherzo in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word scherzo in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use scherzo in Italian.

The word scherzo in Italian means practical joke, prank, trick, nasty surprise, breeze, scherzo, play around, joke around, joke, kid, jest, joke, kid, anything goes at Carnival, play a joke on, play a dirty trick on, don't draw out the joke, get to the point, don't even joke about it, don't even think about it, forget it, absolutely not, bad joke, joke of nature, take a joke, have a sense of humour. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word scherzo

practical joke, prank, trick

sostantivo maschile (atto o risultato dello scherzare)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
A carnevale si fanno gli scherzi.
People play practical jokes during Carnival.

nasty surprise

sostantivo maschile (informale (evento sgradito o imprevisto)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Quella buca dietro la curva mi ha giocato proprio un brutto scherzo.
That pothole after the curve gave me a nasty surprise.

breeze

sostantivo maschile (informale (bazzecola, quisquilia)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Risolvere quel problema è stato uno scherzo.
Getting your money back is going to be no joke.

scherzo

sostantivo maschile (componimento musicale) (music)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Gli scherzi di solito hanno un ritmo ternario.
Usually a scherzo has a ternary rhythm.

play around, joke around

verbo intransitivo (divertirsi, trastullarsi)

(phrasal verb, intransitive: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning and not taking direct object--for example, "make up" [=reconcile]: "After they fought, they made up.")
I due amici scherzavano allegramente al bar.
The two friends were happily playing around at the bar.

joke, kid, jest

verbo intransitivo (prendersi gioco di qn o qs)

(intransitive verb: Verb not taking a direct object--for example, "She jokes." "He has arrived.")
È stupido e immaturo scherzare su chi ha difetti fisici.
Joking about someone with a physical defect is stupid and immature.

joke, kid

verbo intransitivo (non dire seriamente)

Guarda che non sto scherzando, davvero ho vinto la lotteria!
I'm really not joking: I won the lottery!

anything goes at Carnival

(phrase)

Non te la prendere: a Carnevale ogni scherzo vale!

play a joke on

play a dirty trick on

don't draw out the joke, get to the point

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

don't even joke about it, don't even think about it, forget it

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

absolutely not

bad joke

sostantivo maschile (idiomatico (scherzo sciocco o di pessimo gusto)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

joke of nature

take a joke, have a sense of humour

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of scherzo in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

Do you know about Italian

Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.