Skip to content

criminale

criminal

adjective noun kree-mee-NAH-leh Less Common
People & Society Crime

Origin: From Latin criminalis, from crimen (crime, accusation).

Usage Note

Criminale works as both adjective (atto criminale, criminal act) and noun (un criminale, a criminal). As a noun it is invariable by gender: il criminale / la criminale. Do not confuse with penale (penal/criminal in the judicial sense — diritto penale, criminal law) — criminale is more informal and moral in tone, penale more technical.

Examples

"La polizia ha arrestato il criminale."

Natural Translation

The police arrested the criminal.

Free starter pack

Building your Italian vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Italian words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Italian by topic