Chi è Ciccio Capece? Ciccio Capece è un capocaccia che caccia con la cacciaballa.
Meaning: A 'c/ci/ccia' onslaught — Italian's hard and soft c in the same sentence, non-stop.
Language: Italian
Literally: Who is Ciccio Capece? Ciccio Capece is a head hunter who hunts with bluster.
Category: Fiendish
Origin: A classic Italian tongue twister used in stage diction and pronunciation training.
More tongue twisters — Fiendish
- O papa papava o papo do pipo; o pipo papava o papo do papa. — A perfectly palindromic 'p' construction that reverses meaning when you swap the nouns.
- Корабли лавировали, лавировали, да не вылавировали. (Korabli lavirovali, lavirovali, da ne vylavirovali.) — One verb, three inflections, pure 'lav/vir' torture — the word grows with every repetitio…
- Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami. — Six words, almost no vowels — a single noun phrase that non-Polish speakers find impossib…
- 黑化肥发黑会挥发；灰化肥发灰会挥发。(Hēihuàféi fā hēi huì huīfā; huīhuàféi fā huī huì huīfā.) — A 'hēi/huī/huì/fā' four-tone minefield — the tones alone change every meaning.
- 경찰청 철창살은 외철창살이고 검찰청 철창살도 외철창살이다. (Gyeongchalcheong cheolchangsal eun oe cheolchangsal igo, geomchalcheong cheolchangsal do oe cheolchangsal ida.) — A 'cheong/cheol/chal' onslaught — Korean's aspirated stops and affricates in relentless s…
- Strč prst skrz krk. — Four words, zero vowels — the most concentrated consonant cluster challenge in any Europe…
More Italian tongue twisters
- Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa. — A beloved 'c' / 'p' rhythm trap.
- Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento tutti e trentatré trotterellando. — An unbroken stampede of 'tr' and 't'.
- Tigre contro tigre, tigre contro un'altra tigre. — Pure 't/ig/re' drill — short and merciless; the double-g demands a crisp Italian stop.
- Apelle figlio di Apollo fece una palla di pelle di pollo e tutti i principi della città di Capua la palpeggiarono. — A wall of 'p/ll/l/a' that seems to grow longer as you speak it faster.
- Se la serpe si avvicina alla siepe del serpente, il serpente scappa dalla siepe. — A sibilant 's/se/si/sci' minefield; both words (serpe and serpente) slither through the s…
From our compliments & insults
- Hai le mani d'oro — You're extraordinarily skilled with your hands — a craftsperson, cook, or fixer of legend…
- Sei una persona d'oro — You're genuinely wonderful — kind, trustworthy, and precious to have in one's life.
- Che spettacolo! — You look absolutely stunning — a spontaneous burst of admiration for someone's appearance.