Italian sandwich
- noun
- /ɪˈtæljən ˈsænwɪtʃ/
- US
:
sándwich italiano
- For lunch, I enjoyed a classic Italian sandwich made on a crusty roll with tomato and lettuce.
Examples
-
I had an Italian sandwich.
-
It's an Italian sandwich from Bay Cities and it is the godmother sub.
-
Indeed, as the three of them ate Italian sandwiches on the porch, she seemed downright sympathetic toward him, going out of her way to bring him into the conversation, and for the first time that day, he relaxed a little, though he was by no means his usual talkative, overbearing self.
Fiction book (1991) -
I ordered a delicious Italian sandwich filled with salami, cheese, and fresh vegetables.
-
At the deli, you can choose from several types of Italian sandwiches with different meats and condiments.
Synonyms
27
2.8
A long bread roll filled with meat, cheese, and vegetables
11
8.2
A large sandwich on a long roll filled with meat, cheese, and vegetables
11
2.7
A long bread roll cut open and filled with meat, cheese, and vegetables
11
4.4
A long sandwich filled with meat, cheese, and vegetables
10
8.9
A large sandwich made from a long roll split lengthwise and filled with meat
9
8.3
A large sandwich on a long roll filled with meats and cheese
6
5.0
A long sandwich filled with meat, cheese, and vegetables
4
7.7
A large sandwich on a long crusty roll with meat and cheese
3
3.2
A long sandwich filled with meat, cheese and salad
2
2.1
A long bread roll split open and filled with meats, cheese, and salad vegetables
1
2.8
A large sandwich on a long crusty roll filled with meats, cheese, and vegetables
1
9.9
A large sandwich on a long crusty roll filled with meats, cheese, and lettuce
A large sandwich made from a long crusty roll filled with meat and cheese
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'Italian' describes the style or origin and 'sandwich' names the food, so a learner who knows both words can infer a sandwich made in an Italian style (meats, cheese, vegetables). This nationality-adjective + noun pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English modification, so the MWE is immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Italian sandwich may come from people from Italy who made big sandwiches on a long crusty roll filled with salty, spicy meats like salami and ham, plus cheese and fresh vegetables. Because these fillings gave a clear 'Italian' taste, the name came to mean 'a large sandwich with Italian meats, cheese, and vegetables'.