noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˌəʊmɛːˈtɑː/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˌoʊmɛɹˈtɑ/
General-American:/oʊˈməɹtə/
General-American:[-ɾə]
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɑː
1
noun
Meaning 1
A code of silence amongst members of the Mafia that forbids divulging insider secrets to law enforcement, often also followed outside of the organization for fear of retaliation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Qualifier: crime
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Sicilian code
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: conspiracy of silence, wall of silence
2
noun
Meaning 2
Any code of silence (especially about something illegal or secret), or refusal to talk openly about something.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
PIE word *dhéǵhōm Unadapted borrowing from Italian omertà; further etymology uncertain—the following have been suggested: * from Spanish hombredad (“manliness”) (archaic), with the spelling aligned with Sicilian omu (“man”). Hombredad is derived from hombre (“man”) + -edad (variant of -dad (suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being)). However, the expected Sicilian output from a Spanish borrowing would have been *ummirità ~ *ummiritati. * from Sicilian umirtà (“humility”) (referring to the Mafia code’s requirement of obedience to the leader), from Latin humilitās (“obedience, submission”), from humilis (“humble; abject, submissive”) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns denoting a state of being); with humilis from humus (“floor, ground; earth, soil”) + -ilis (suffix forming an adjective of relation). If so, the English word is a doublet of humility. However, the Oxford English Dictionary takes the view that this is “not well supported by the geographical distribution of the word”.
Across languages
Translations
45 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Arabic:
أُومِيرْتَا
(omertā)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Armenian:
օմերտա
(ōmerta)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Basque:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Bulgarian:
омерта
(omerta)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Catalan:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Chinese Mandarin:
緘默法則 /缄默法则
(jiānmò fǎzé)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Corsican:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Czech:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Dutch:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Estonian:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Finnish:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Finnish:
vaikenemisen laki
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
French:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
German:
Omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Greek:
ομερτά
(omertá)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Hebrew:
אוֹמֶרְטָה
(omertáh)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Hungarian:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Indonesian:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Irish:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Italian:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Japanese:
オメルタの掟
(omeruta no okite)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Japanese:
沈黙の掟
(chinmoku no okite)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Japanese:
血の掟
(chi no okite)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Korean:
오메르타
(omereuta)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Lithuanian:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Macedonian:
омерта
(omerta)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Norwegian Bokmål:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Occitan:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Persian:
اومرتا
(omertâ)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Polish:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Portuguese:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Romanian:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Russian:
омерта́
(omertá)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Russian:
оме́рта
(omérta)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Sardinian:
mudulea
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Serbo-Croatian:
омерта
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Serbo-Croatian:
omerta
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Sicilian:
umirtà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Sicilian:
umirtati
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Slovak:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Slovene:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Spanish:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Swedish:
omertà
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
Ukrainian:
омерта́
(omertá)
— code of silence amongst members of the Mafia
