conte

See also: Conte, conté, and Conté

English

Etymology

From Italian conte. Doublet of comes, comte, and count.

Noun

conte (plural contes)

1. An Italian count.

   Coordinate term: contessa

   • 1895 July 13, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “The Long Vacation”, in The Churchman: An Illustrated Weekly News-Magazine, volume LXXII, number 2 (whole 2634), New York, N.Y.: M. H. Mallory & Co., chapter XXVIII (Rocca Marina), page 52 (24), column 3:

     So she led the way through a marble hall, pillared in different colors, rich and rare, with portraits of ancient contes and contessas on the walls, up a magnificent stone stair with a carved balustrade, to a suite indeed, where, at the entrance, Sibby was found very happy at her welcome from Mrs. Mount, who was equally glad to receive a countrywoman.

   • 1986, Heather Graham Pozzessere, The Di Medici Bride, Silhouette Intimate Moments, →ISBN, page 130:

     “Aspirin. It will help you to sleep tonight if you have aches and pains, or cold clammy dreams about dead contes and contessas,” he teased.

   • 2006, Mark Lamster, Spalding’s World Tour: The Epic Adventure That Took Baseball Around the Globe—and Made It America’s Game, PublicAffairs™, →ISBN:

     The announcement of the game had put Florentine society “in a flurry,” and two thousand spectators—including enough contes and contessas to fill half the palaces of Florence—made the trip beyond the city limits to view the match.

Anagrams

• cento, oncet, Ecton, Noteć, tecno-, et con, et con., netco, cteno-, etcon, c-note, c note

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin comitem (the 'o' being stressed and the 'i' disappearing), accusative of comes (“companion”). Ultimately cognate to English count (nobility).

Noun

conte m (feminine contesa)

1. count (nobility); countess in the feminine sense.

Related terms

• vizconte
• condato

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin computus, or deverbal from contar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈkun.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Central) [ˈkon.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈkon.te]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

conte m (plural contes)

1. tale; story

   Synonym: rondalla

Derived terms

• conte d’indis
• contista

Further reading

• “conte”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “conte”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “conte” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “conte”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃t/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophones: compte, comptent, comptes, comte, comtes, content, contes

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French conte, from Old French conte, compte, derived from the verb conter, compter, or from Latin computus. See compte.

Noun

conte m (plural contes)

1. tale; story

Derived terms

• conte de bonne femme
• conte de fées (“fairy-tale”)
• conte moral

Descendants

• → Japanese: コント (konto)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

conte

1. inflection of conter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “conte”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Galician

Verb

conte

1. inflection of contar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkon.te/
• Rhymes: -onte
• Hyphenation: cón‧te

Etymology 1

From Latin comitem.

Noun

conte m (plural conti, feminine contessa)

1. count (rank)
2. earl

Related terms

• contado
• visconte

See also

• duca
• barone
• marchese

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

conte

1. plural of conta

Further reading

• conte in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• conte in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• conte in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• conte in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• “conte” in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• “conte”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Anagrams

• cento, tecno-

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔn.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔn.te]

Noun

conte

1. vocative singular of contus

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *kunta (“vagina”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuntā, from Proto-Germanic *kuntǭ.

Noun

conte f

1. vagina, also generally sex organ

Inflection

Weak feminine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	conte	conten
accusative	conte	conten
genitive	conte, conten	conten
dative	conte, conten	conten

Descendants

• Dutch: kont

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “conte”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

conte

1. alternative form of cunte

Etymology 2

Noun

conte

1. alternative form of counte (“county”)

Middle French

Etymology 1

From Old French conte, compte.

Noun

conte f (plural contes)

1. story; tale; fable

Etymology 2

From Old French comte.

Noun

conte m (plural contes)

1. count (nobleman)

Descendants

• French: comte

Old French

Alternative forms

• cunte (all senses, Anglo-Norman)

Etymology 1

First attested circa 980 as compte. Deverbal of conter.

Noun

conte oblique singular, m (oblique plural contes, nominative singular contes, nominative plural conte)

1. story; tale; fable
2. count (record of a number or amount)
   • 12^th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:

     Tant en asamble n'en sai conte tenir.

     He got together so many that I can't keep count

Etymology 2

See comte.

Noun

conte oblique singular, m (oblique plural contes, nominative singular cuens, nominative plural conte)

1. alternative form of comte

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.t͡ʃi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.tɨ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧te

Verb

conte

1. inflection of contar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French comte.

Noun

conte m (plural conți, feminine equivalent contesă)

1. count, earl

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	conte	conteul	conți	conții
genitive-dative	conte	conteului	conți	conților
vocative	conteule		conților