Standard Lemma guide

ricotta

name · noun · 3 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.

  • UK: /ɹɪˈkɒtə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ɹɪˈkɑtə/
  • US: /ɹəˈkɑtə/
  • rhymes with -ɒtə
  • CMU ARPABET: R IY0 K AA1 T AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname from Italian.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A soft Italian unsalted whey cheese resembling cottage cheese.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

soft Italian cheese like cottage cheese

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cheese

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian Ricotta.

Borrowed from Italian ricotta (literally “cooked again”), from Latin recocta.

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: رِيكُوتَّا (rīkūttā) — Italian whey cheese
  • Arabic: جُبْن رِيكُوتَّا (jubn rīkūttā) — Italian whey cheese
  • Armenian: ռիկոտա (ṙikota) — Italian whey cheese
  • Azerbaijani: rikotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Belarusian: рыко́та (rykóta) — Italian whey cheese
  • Chinese Cantonese: 鄉村芝士 /乡村芝士 — Italian whey cheese
  • Chinese Mandarin: 里考塔 (lǐkǎotǎ) — Italian whey cheese
  • Chuvash: рикота (rik̬ot̬a) — Italian whey cheese
  • Czech: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Dutch: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Esperanto: rikoto — Italian whey cheese
  • Finnish: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • French: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • German: Ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • German: Ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Hebrew: רִיקוֹטָה (rikóta) — Italian whey cheese
  • Italian: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Japanese: リコッタ (rikotta) — Italian whey cheese
  • Korean: 리코타 (rikota) — Italian whey cheese
  • Maltese: rkotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Persian: ریکوتا (rikotâ) — Italian whey cheese
  • Polish: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Portuguese: requeijão — Italian whey cheese
  • Portuguese: ricota — Italian whey cheese
  • Russian: рико́тта (rikótta) — Italian whey cheese
  • Sicilian: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Slovak: rikota — Italian whey cheese
  • Spanish: requesón — Italian whey cheese
  • Spanish: ricota — Italian whey cheese
  • Swedish: ricotta — Italian whey cheese
  • Thai: ริคอตต้า (rí-kɔ̂ɔt-dtâa) — Italian whey cheese
  • Tibetan: རི་ཀོ་ཏ (ri ko ta) — Italian whey cheese
  • Ukrainian: ріко́та (rikóta) — Italian whey cheese
  • Venetan: puìna — Italian whey cheese
  • Venetan: poìna — Italian whey cheese