Phrase guide

spaghetti western

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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A motion picture depicting a story of cowboys and desperadoes set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company and filmed in Europe, notably in Italy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: broadcasting, film, media, television

Examples

  • “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Once Upon a Time in the West” are famous spaghetti westerns.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Italo-western, spaghetti

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Eurowestern, western, movie, film

2

noun

Meaning 2

Alternative letter-case form of spaghetti western.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a low-budget Western movie produced by a European (especially an Italian) film company

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Western, horse opera

History

Etymology

From spaghetti + western, pasta being a famously Italian product.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: فِلْم سْبَاغِيتِي (film sbāḡītī) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Arabic: غَرْبِيّ سْبَاغِيتِي (ḡarbiyy sbāḡītī) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Arabic: سْبَاغِيتِي وَسْتَرْن (sbāḡītī wastarn) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Basque: spaghetti western — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Bulgarian: спаге́ти-уе́стърн (spagéti-uéstǎrn) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Chinese Mandarin: 意大利式西部片 (yìdàlìshì xībùpiàn) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Danish: spaghettiwestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Dutch: spaghettiwestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Esperanto: itala vakera filmo — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Estonian: spagetivestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Finnish: italowestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Finnish: spagettiwestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • French: western spaghetti — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • West-Frisian: spagettywestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Georgian: იტალო-ვესტერნი (iṭalo-vesṭerni) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • German: Italowestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • German: Spaghettiwestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Hebrew: מַעֲרָבוֹן סְפָּגֶטִי (ma'arávon spagéti) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Hungarian: spagettiwestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Hungarian: makaróniwestern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Icelandic: spagettívestri — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Indonesian: Koboi Italia — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Italian: spaghetti western — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Italian: western all'italiana — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Japanese: マカロニ・ウェスタン (makaroni wesutan) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Korean: 스파게티 웨스턴 (seupageti weseuteon) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Korean: 이탤리언 웨스턴 (itaellieon weseuteon) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Norwegian: spaghetti-western — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Persian: وسترن اسپاگتی (vestern espâgeti) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Polish: spaghetti western — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Portuguese: spaghetti western — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Portuguese: faroeste espaguete — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Portuguese: faroeste macarrônico — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Russian: спаге́тти-ве́стерн (spagétti-véstern) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Serbo-Croatian: шпагѐти-вѐстерн — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Serbo-Croatian: италѝја̄нскӣ вѐстерн — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Serbo-Croatian: špagèti-vèstern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Serbo-Croatian: italìjānskī vèstern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Spanish: spaghetti western — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Swedish: spaghettivästern — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Ukrainian: спаге́ті-ве́стерн (spahéti-véstern) — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company
  • Vietnamese: phim Cao bồi Ý — motion picture set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company