Translation
fiasco, complete failure
Word origin
From Italian fiasco, a flask or bottle, in the theatrical phrase far fiasco, to make a bottle, meaning to fail badly on stage. The bottle itself is well attested; why Italian actors reached for it as the image of failure is genuinely unknown, and the confident stories you will read about it are folk etymology.
- Origin
- Italian
- Root
- fiasco
- English cognates
- fiasco, flask
Examples
.
The plan was a complete fiasco.
.
After the fiasco they started again.
.
Nobody wanted to talk about the fiasco.
is stronger than o, an ordinary failure: it carries the theatre's sense of a public, embarrassing collapse. Because it is an international word, it needs no learning if you already have it in your language, which is exactly why Zamenhof kept it. Fiaski is the verb, to flop.
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fiasko: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "fiasko" (fiasco, complete failure): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 30.