Word.ws English Dictionary

americano

americano noun: a drink made of espresso coffee diluted with hot water.

Noun (1)

americano (countable and uncountable, plural americanos)

  1. A drink made of espresso coffee diluted with hot water.
    • Bond ordered an Americano and examined the sprinkling of over-dressed customers, mostly from Paris he guessed, who sat talking with focus and vivacity, creating that theatrically clubbable atmosphere of l'heure de l'apéritif.1953, Ian Fleming, “The Girl From Headquarters”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 37
    • “No, the coffee. Do you want a cup of Americano?” I groaned. Welcome to Europe. “Can't I just get a cup of regular coffee? A little cream, a little sugar?” […] “An Americano is a shot of espresso with hot water added.” “I don't know why they call it Americano. No one in America drinks espresso and...2017, Ronald H. Balson, The Trust, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 16
    Synonyms:
    cafe americano, caffè americano, coffee americano
  2. A cocktail made with Campari, sweet vermouth, and club soda.
    • The waiters wore striped waistcoats and green baize aprons. Bond ordered an Americano and examined the sprinkling of overdressed customers, mostly from Paris he guessed, who sat talking with focus and vivacity, creating that theatrically clubbable atmosphere of l'heure de l'aperitif.1953, Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, page 30
    • An Americano is made of Campari, sweet vermouth, and soda water over ice in a highball glass. […] The drink was so popular among Americans visiting Italy at the turn of the last century that it was named after them.2009, Eric Felten, How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well, Agate Publishing, →ISBN, pages 37–38

Noun (2) capitalized: Americano

Americano (countable and uncountable, plural Americanos)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of americano.
    • Formerly used only in Italy and Seattle, it includes such tongue activators as latte, lungo, cappuccino, ristretto, macchiato, mochaccino and Americano.1995 July 19, Suzanne Hamlin, “Coffee Drinks That Are Cool and Creamy”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Dec 2022
    • Obviously, it will take a while to develop a circle of mates as good as the ones in Friends, especially as you’re going through a big change in your life, so be patient. And even if you find yourself sitting on your mum’s sofa eating Rich Tea biscuits for the third time this week instead of...2005, Victoria Perrett, Survive Divorce: Your Route Through the Financial and Emotional Maze, The Infinite Ideas Company Limited, →ISBN, page 19
  2. (countable, imitating non-native speakers or in their context) An American.
    • I hear that your people love the Americanos, so much even that they always yield to them, and would almost kiss their boots, which is not dignified for a great nation. Do the Americanos love your people? Have they not still in their pockets the surplus of the millions of pesetas given to them when...1897 January 23, Punch, page 40
    • On da Av’noo D near Ten street Peno wida all heesa granda, magnifique muscle was grind out Signor Tomaso Mascagni’s maestropiece, ‘Cavallierre Rusticana,’ when long coma half doz verra bad Americano kid wid da snowball.1901 February 23, “Rocco Threw the Brick, but He Will Never Throw Another”, in The Bayonne Herald and Greenville Register, 34th year, number 2033, Bayonne, N.J., →OCLC, page 4, column 4

americano meaning in Arabic, Indonesian and Thai

americano in Arabic

drink made of espresso diluted with hot water
أَمْرِيكَانُو ʔamrīkānū, أَمِرِيكَانُو ʔamirīkānū

americano in Indonesian

drink made of espresso diluted with hot water
amerikano

americano in Thai

drink made of espresso diluted with hot water
อะเมริกาโน à-mee-rí-gaa-noo, อาเมรีกาโน aa-mee-rii-gaa-noo

Synonyms of americano

Forms of americano

pluralamericanos
alternative formAmericano
pluralAmericanos

Plural of americano: americanos

Origin of americano

1970s, from Italian (caffè) americano or American Spanish americano (“American (coffee)”). Cocktail sense from Italian americano.

Words formed from americano

Phrases with americano

Questions about americano

What does americano mean?
Americano means a drink made of espresso coffee diluted with hot water.
What is americano in Arabic?
Americano in Arabic is أَمْرِيكَانُو (ʔamrīkānū), أَمِرِيكَانُو (ʔamirīkānū). See Americano meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is americano?
Americano is a noun.
What is the plural of americano?
The plural of americano is americanos.

Words near americano in the dictionary

  1. Americanizing
  2. Americanless
  3. Americanly
  4. Americanness
  5. Americannesses
  6. americano
  7. Americano-
  8. Americanocentric
  9. Americanocracy
  10. Americanoid
  11. Americanoids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: americano (page history and authors); Americano (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-americano.wav.

Cite this entry: “americano.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/americano. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.