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I·tal·ic (ĭ-tălĭk, ī-tăl-)
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adj.
1. Of or relating to ancient Italy or its peoples or cultures.
2. Of or relating to the branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Latin, Faliscan, Oscan, Umbrian, and the Romance languages.
3. italic Of or being a style of printing type patterned on a Renaissance script with the letters slanting to the right: This sentence is printed in italic type.
n.
1. The Italic branch of Indo-European.
2. often italics Italic print or typeface.
[Latin Italicus, from Italia, Italy.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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