grosso

Grosso is a term with several related uses in Italian and Portuguese. In Italian, grosso means large or thick and is used in everyday language. It also appears as a surname, borne by people in Italy and among Italian communities abroad; common variants include Grossi and Grosso in surnames. In historical finance, the grosso was a silver coin minted in medieval and early modern Italy and in other parts of Europe; the coin circulated in various city-states and its value relative to other coins varied by issuer and era.

In geography and toponymy, Grosso appears in place names and in geographical terms across Romance-language regions. In Portuguese-speaking areas, the word grosso retains the sense of thickness or bulk and appears in names such as Mato Grosso, a Brazilian state in the Central-West region, whose name combines mato (brush) with grosso (dense). The term also surfaces in other toponyms and literary uses.

In modern usage, grosso persists as an adjective meaning large or substantial in both Italian and Portuguese contexts, and it appears in compound expressions and descriptive phrases. The broad semantic field—large scale, bulk, density—helps explain its appearances in surnames, coinage history, and geographic names, reflecting shared Romance-language roots. Overall, Grosso functions as a versatile term that connects language, history, and geography across Italian- and Portuguese-speaking cultures.