fantoccini means puppets caused to enact dramatic scenes by means of machinery. It carries an Arena rating of 1507, earned across 57 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, fantoccini ranks #289 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #556 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #868 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #904 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
Why “fantoccini” is a great word
FANTOCCINI — [Noun] Puppets, especially those operated by strings or concealed mechanical devices, and the puppet shows in which they perform. From Italian fantoccini, plural of fantoccino, a diminutive of fantoccio ("puppet, doll"), from fante ("child, boy"), from Latin infāns, infant- ("infant, child"). Unlike a marionette, manipulated solely by strings from above, or puppetry, the encompassing art form, fantoccini evoke the puppets themselves and the spectacle of their mechanical animation. It is the whirring of clockwork from within a gilded box, the precise jerk of a wire making a wooden soldier bow, and the collective intake of breath as a tiny figure seems to decide to dance—a testament to our desire to instill a borrowed will into carved and assembled things, where every gesture is a small and perfect lie.
Etymology
From Italian fantoccini, diminutive from fante (“child”).
noun
- Puppets caused to enact dramatic scenes by means of machinery.e.g.“A man of the name of Flocton from Birmingham was, to the best of my knowledge, the first that ever had a fantoccini exhibition in England; but he was only for theatres[…]” — 1861, Henry Mayhew, London labour and the London poor, page 61:
- The puppet shows in which they are used.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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