gondoliere

9.9

A person who rows a gondola in Venice

noun
/ɡɒn.dəˈlɪər/

: gondolero

The gondoliere expertly navigated the narrow canals of Venice.

Examples

The gondoliere expertly navigated the narrow canals of Venice.
The gondoliere sang beautifully as he rowed.
He aspired to become a gondoliere after watching them at work during his vacation.
Tourists waved as the gondoliere serenaded them with an Italian folk song.
Many gondolieres work in Venice during the summer.
Tourists waved as the gondoliere serenaded them with an Italian folk song.
He aspired to become a gondoliere after watching them at work during his vacation.

Synonyms

boatman

vsgondoliere

8 2.8

A man who rows or steers a boat to carry people across water

is the Venice-specific role focused on a single type of boat

gondolier

vsgondoliere

4 7.4

A person who rows and steers a gondola in Venice

means the same role but uses a different spelling form

boatsman

vsgondoliere

1 4.0

A person who rows or guides a small boat

is narrower applying only to the Venice job on one traditional boat type

boatsteerer

vsgondoliere

Archaic

1 9.9

A person who steers a small boat during a whale hunt

is specific to Venice passenger rowing rather than small hunting boats

Surface Forms

gondoliere singular

gondolieres plural

Morphology

gondoliere = gondola (transparent) = gondola + iere

The meaning 'operator of a gondola' is directly inferable from 'gondola' plus an agentive ending.

Etymology

Gondoliere comes from Italian and is made from gondola ('a long, flat boat used in Venice') and -iere ('person who does something'). So a gondoliere is 'someone who works a gondola', which is why it means a Venetian boatman who rows a gondola through the canals.