Find it hard to mind your own business? Can’t resist a little snooping around when the opportunity presents itself?

Then today’s word is for you. A ficcanaso (fee-ka-NAH-zoh) is someone who loves sticking their nose in other people’s affairs – in other words, a nosy parker.

Ficcare means to stick, shove, or poke, and naso is simply nose, so (as with nosy parker) from there to ficcanaso is just a short hop.

Tu sai benissimo che lei è solo una ficcanaso.
You know very well that she’s just a busybody.

When used as a noun, being a ficcanaso is often something you ‘do’ or ‘play at’, so you’ll see it phrased as fare il/la ficcanaso (we’ve seen this formulation before in the famous Neapolitan dialect song Tu vuo’ fa’ l’americano – ‘you want to act the American’).

Luisa fa davvero la ficcanaso oggi.
Luisa’s being a real nosy parker today.

Ficcanaso can equally be used as the adjective ‘nosy’ – note that the ending doesn’t change to agree with the subject it’s describing.

È sempre stato un po’ ficcanaso.
He’s always been a bit nosy.

Non mi piacciono i vicini ficcanaso.
I don’t like nosy neighbours.

Another variation is ficcare il becco, or more commonly, mettere il becco – to ‘stick your beak’ into something that doesn’t concern you.

And if you’re one for a bit of eavesdropping, you’ll want to know the word origliare – to eavesdrop or listen in.

Mamma, non origliare le mie conversazioni per favore.
Mum, please don’t listen in on my conversations.

Mi sa che i bambini stanno origliando fuori dalla porta.
I think the kids are eavesdropping just outside the door.

What to learn more? Have a snoop around our Word of the Day archive and see what other Italian vocabular you can stick your nose into.

Is there an Italian word of expression you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.