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cortiletto

small courtyard, little yard

noun kor-tee-LET-toh Rare
Home & Lifestyle Rooms

Usage Note

Cortiletto is a diminutive of cortile ('courtyard') and refers to a small, typically enclosed inner yard — common in Italian urban architecture and apartment buildings. Diminutives in Italian with -etto/-etta signal smallness and often affection. The plural is cortiletti. Compare cortile (standard courtyard) and corticella (another diminutive form, more regional).

Examples

"I bambini giocano nel cortiletto del condominio."

Natural Translation

The children play in the small courtyard of the apartment building.

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