There are many different varieties of pasta.[1] They are usually sorted by size, being long (pasta lunga), short (pasta corta), stuffed (ripiena), cooked in broth (pastina), stretched (strascinati) or in dumpling-like form (gnocchi/gnocchetti). Yet, due to the variety of shapes and regional variants, "one man's gnocchetto can be another's strascinato".[2]
Some pasta varieties are uniquely regional and not widely known; many types have different names based on region or language. For example, the cut rotelle is also called ruote in Italy and 'wagon wheels' in the United States. Manufacturers and cooks often invent new shapes of pasta, or may rename pre-existing shapes for marketing reasons.
Italian pasta names often end with the masculine plural diminutive suffixes -ini, -elli, -illi, -etti or the feminine plurals -ine, -elle, etc., all conveying the sense of 'little'; or with the augmentative suffixes -oni, -one, meaning 'large'. Other suffixes like -otti 'largish', and -acci 'rough, badly made', may also occur. In Italian, all pasta type names are plural.
- ^ Zanini De Vita 2009, p. xiv.
- ^ Zanini De Vita 2009, p. xviii.