Skip to content

ecosistema

ecosystem

noun eh-koh-ZEE-steh-mah Rare
Animals & Nature Environment

Origin: From Greek oikos (house) + systema (system); coined in 1935 by ecologist Arthur Tansley.

Usage Note

Ecosistema is masculine — like all Italian nouns ending in -ma of Greek origin (il problema, il tema, il sistema), which often surprises learners who expect feminine -a endings. The plural is ecosistemi. It is used both in scientific contexts and everyday environmental discourse.

Examples

"La deforestazione distrugge l'ecosistema locale."

Natural Translation

Deforestation destroys the local ecosystem.

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