Cucinare

Cucinare is an Italian verb meaning to cook or to prepare food by heating ingredients. It is typically transitive and used with direct objects, as in cucinare la pasta or cucinare una zuppa, and it can describe cooking methods such as cucinare al forno or cucinare a fuoco basso.

Etymology: The verb derives from cucina, meaning kitchen, which in turn comes from Latin coquina "kitchen." The suffix -are marks the infinitive of the first conjugation. Cucinare is thus closely related to other cooking terms in Italian, including cuocere, which refers more to the act of applying heat.

Conjugation: Cucinare is a regular -are verb. Present indicative forms: io cucino, tu cucini, lui/lei cucina, noi cuciniamo, voi cucinate, loro cucinano. Other tenses follow standard patterns for -are verbs (for example, cucinavo in the imperfect, cucinerò in the future). The verb also appears in the subjunctive and imperative moods, used in everyday speech and recipes.

Usage and nuance: In ordinary cooking, cucinare denotes the act of preparing a dish. It is common in domestic and professional contexts, from home kitchens to restaurant kitchens. In informal speech, it can also take on a figurative sense meaning to devise or fabricate something, for example cucinare una scusa or cucinare un piano, meaning to cook up an excuse or a plan.