adj. 1. Of or containing a mixture of vernacular words with Latin words or with vernacular words given Latinate endings: macaronic verse. 2. Of or involving a mixture of two or more languages. [French macaronique, or Latin macaronicus, after Macaronea, title of a poem by Tifi Odasi (c.1450-1492), 15th-century Italian author, that contained such verse and satirized those who used poor Latin and affectedly Latinized Italian, from Italian maccherone, macaroni (considered food for peasants); see MACARONI.] mac′a·ronic n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.