cannoli
UK[kəˈnəʊli]US[kəˈnoʊli]
n
A tube-shaped Italian pastry consisting of a fried shell filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and often containing candied fruit, nuts, or chocolate.
Etymology
The word 'cannoli' is a direct import from Italian, where it is the plural form of 'cannolo', meaning "little tube". 'Cannolo' itself is a diminutive derived from the Italian 'canna', tracing back to the Latin 'canna', meaning "reed" or "cane". This etymology is a perfect example of a loanword where the form and meaning are borrowed wholesale, with the literal descriptor for the pastry's tubular shape becoming its fixed name. The journey from a Latin word for a hollow plant stem to the name of a iconic Sicilian dessert illustrates how culinary traditions concretize descriptive language.
Analysis
This word is a direct loanword from Italian. It is the plural form of the Italian word 'cannolo', which is a diminutive of 'canna', meaning "reed" or "tube" (from Latin 'canna', meaning "reed, cane").
Examples
The bakery is famous for its fresh, crispy cannoli filled with sweet ricotta.
For dessert, we shared a plate of assorted cannoli, some dipped in pistachios and others in chocolate chips.
A traditional cannoli should have a crisp shell that cracks when you bite into it.