# presto
## English
### Etymology

From Italian presto (“quickly”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpɹɛstəʊ/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) enPR: prĕs'tō, IPA: /ˈpɹɛstoʊ/
* Rhymes: -ɛstəʊ

### Adverb

presto (not comparable)
* (music) Very fast or quickly; a directive for the musician(s) to play in a very quick tempo.

### Interjection

presto
* Used by magicians when performing a trick; ta-da; voilà.
    So I put my hand into the hat and presto! Out comes a rabbit!
** 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 31, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 142:You know the old man's ivory leg, well I dreamed he kicked me with it ; and when I tried to kick back, upon my soul, my little man, I kicked my leg right off! And then, presto! Ahab seemed a pyramid, and I, like a blazing fool, kept kicking at it.

#### Derived terms

* hey presto
* presto change-o
* presto chango

#### See also

* abracadabra

### Noun

presto (uncountable)
* (poker slang) A pair of fives as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em.

#### References

* Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN

### Anagrams

* eSport, opters, tropes, retops, Perots, repots, Petros, e-sport, respot, esport, repost, poster, petros, Strope, stoper, sprote, topers, Portes, opster

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [ˈpɾes.tu]
* IPA: (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈpɾes.to]

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian presto.

#### Adverb

presto
* (music) presto

#### Noun

presto m (plural prestos)
* (music) presto (piece played very rapidly)

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian presto.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pʁɛs.to/
* Audio:(file)
* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Adverb

presto
* (music) presto
* (colloquial) quickly

#### Derived terms

* illico presto

### Further reading

* “presto”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Galician
### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈprɛ.sto/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛsto
* Hyphenation: prè‧sto

### Etymology 1

From Late Latin praestus, from the Latin praestō (“at hand”, adverb). Compare Catalan prest, French prêt.

#### Adjective

presto (feminine presta, masculine plural presti, feminine plural preste, superlative prestissimo)
* (literary) ready
* (literary) fast; quick; nimble
** 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto I”, in Inferno [Hell]‎, lines 31–33; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎, 2nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:Ed ecco, quasi al cominciar de l'erta, ¶ una lonza leggera e presta molto, ¶ che di pel macolato era coverta; […]And lo! almost where the ascent began, a panther light and swift exceedingly, which with a spotted skin was covered o'er!

##### Descendants

* → French: preste

#### Adverb

presto
* soon
    Synonyms: tra poco, fra poco
    Ritorno presto. ― I will be back soon.
    Potrebbe piovere presto. ― It may rain soon.
* early
    Synonym: di buon'ora
    Non sono abituata a svegliarmi presto. ― I'm not accustomed to getting up early.
    Se ne andarono presto. ― They left early.
* quickly
    Synonyms: rapidamente, velocemente
    Spero che ti riprenderai presto. ― I hope you'll recover quickly.
* (music) presto

##### Derived terms

* a presto
* al più presto
* il più presto possibile
* prestamente
* prestezza
* prestissimo
* presto o tardi

##### Descendants

* → English: presto
* → Ladino: presto

### Etymology 2

Deverbal from prestare (“to lend”) +‎ -o.

#### Noun

presto m (plural presti) (archaic)
* loan
    Synonym: prestito
* usury (practice of lending money at excessive interest rates)
    Synonym: usura
* pawnshop
    Synonym: banco dei pegni

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestare

### Further reading

* presto$^1$ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
* presto in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

### Anagrams

* sperto, sporte, spreto, spretò, sprote, sterpo, sterpò

## Ladino
### Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish presto, from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Compare Catalan prest, French prêt, Italian presto.

#### Adjective

presto (Hebrew spelling פריסטו)
* quick; swift
** 1996, Sara Benveniste Benrey, edited by Yossi Benbenisty, Espertando el djudeo espanyol: poemas realidas i philosophia, kantes, sketches, piesas de teatro‎, Yossi Benbenisty, page 157:Mira, no agas echos prestos i arepentidos, pensa bueno!Look, don’t make things quick and contrite, think positive!
** 1999, Los Muestros‎, numbers 34–6, R. Capuia, page 41:En la guerta kemada Asentada la fija Pasharon prestos Apretan su korason.In the burnt garden sat the daughter; the quick [ones] passed, [and] they distress her heart.

#### Adverb

presto (Hebrew spelling פריסטו)
* soon
** 1940, La boz de Türkiye‎, numbers 11–34, page 259:Para arivar a este resultado, es menester de activar las discusiones y concluir el acordo lo mas presto possible, afin que el fabrikator tenga el tiempo menesterozo : […]To arrive at this result, it is necessary to begin the discussions and conclude the agreement as soon as possible so that the producer has the time needed.
* early
** 2006, Matilda Koén-Sarano, Por el plazer de kontar‎, Nur Afakot, page 36:Pensas de no poder eskrivir presto? No emporta. I yo empesí avagar avagar. Tinía katorze anyos. I saves porké para mí fue mas fasil? Porké de la edá de diez anyos yo tanyía el piano.You think that you can’t write early? Whatever. I started very slowly. I was fourteen years old. And you know why it was easier for me? Because at age ten I was playing the piano.

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

presto (Hebrew spelling פריסטו)
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar
* third-person singular preterite indicative of prestar

#### References

* 1 2 “presto”, in Trezoro de la Lengua Djudeoespanyola.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian presto (“ready”).

### Adverb

presto
* (music) presto

### Noun

presto m (definite singular prestoen, indefinite plural prestoer, definite plural prestoene)
* music being played presto

#### Usage notes

* Prior to a revision in 2020, this noun was also considered grammatically neuter.

### References

* “presto” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* ↑ Language Council of Norway, Spelling decisions since 2012 (in Norwegian, retrieved 12.21.20)

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian presto (“ready”).

### Adverb

presto
* (music) presto

### Noun

presto m (definite singular prestoen, indefinite plural prestoar, definite plural prestoane)
* music being played presto

### References

* “presto” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old Galician-Portuguese
### Etymology 1

Inherited from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Cognate with Old Spanish presto.

#### Adjective

presto
* quick; swift
* prepared; ready

##### Descendants

* Portuguese: presto

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar

#### References

* Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “presto”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “presto”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

## Old Spanish
### Etymology 1

Inherited from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Cognate with Old Galician-Portuguese presto.

#### Adjective

presto
* prepared; ready

#### Adverb

presto
* soon

#### Descendants

* Ladino: presto, פריסטו
* Spanish: presto

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar

#### References

* Ralph Steele Boggs et al. (1946) “presto”, in Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, volume II, Chapel Hill, page 408

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈpɾɛs.tu/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈpɾɛs.tu/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈpɾɛʃ.tu/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈpɾɛs.to/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈpɾɛʃ.tu/
* Rhymes: -ɛstu, -ɛʃtu
* Hyphenation: pres‧to

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese presto, from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Compare Catalan prest, French prêt, Italian presto. The meaning pertaining to music comes from Italian presto.

#### Adjective

presto (feminine presta, masculine plural prestos, feminine plural prestas)
* quick; swift; prompt
* ready; prepared

#### Adverb

presto
* immediately; promptly
* right away; at once
* (music) presto

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian presto.

### Adverb

presto
* presto

## Serbo-Croatian
### Alternative forms

* prijesto (Ijekavian)
* pristo (Ikavian)

### Alternative forms

* prijestol (Croatia)

### Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *perstolъ.

### Noun

prȅsto m (Cyrillic spelling пре̏сто)
* throne

#### Derived terms

* prijéstōlje

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpɾesto/ [ˈpɾes.t̪o]
* Rhymes: -esto
* Syllabification: pres‧to

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish presto, from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Compare Catalan prest, French prêt, Italian presto. The meaning pertaining to music comes from Italian presto.

#### Adjective

presto (feminine presta, masculine plural prestos, feminine plural prestas)
* quick; swift; prompt
* ready; prepared

#### Adverb

presto
* immediately; promptly; soon
* (music) presto
* right away; at once

##### Derived terms

* aprestar

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

presto
* first-person singular present indicative of prestar

### Further reading

* “presto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10