spesso

Spesso is an Italian word that functions both as an adverb and as an adjective. As an adverb, it means “often” or “frequently” and is used to express how regularly an action occurs. As an adjective, it means “thick” or “dense” and describes physical thickness, with gender and number agreement with the noun it modifies.

When used as an adverb, spesso is invariable and can appear before or after the verb it qualifies. Examples include Vado spesso al cinema (I often go to the cinema) and Spesso, i piani cambiano (Often, plans change). It can be intensified with other frequency words, for instance molto spesso (very often) or spesso e volentieri (often and willingly).

As an adjective, spesso describes the thickness or density of a noun. It agrees in gender and number: un libro spesso (a thick book), una stoffa spessa (a thick fabric), la parete è spessa (the wall is thick). The feminine singular form is spessa, and the plural forms are spessi (masculine) and spesse (feminine).

Etymology traces spesso to Latin spissus, meaning dense or thick, a root that also yields the Italian spessore (thickness). The word is common in standard Italian and appears in many everyday expressions, including proverbs and idioms.

Translations and usage notes: In English, spesso as an adverb is typically translated as “often” or “frequently,” while as an adjective it is translated as “thick” or “dense.” It is a versatile term whose meaning depends on its syntactic role and surrounding context. See also frequente, frequentemente, raramente for related frequency ideas.