cartellino rosso
/kar.telˈli.no ˈros.so/word by wordmasculine
The English phrase 'red card' is translated into Italian as cartellino rosso.
In a sports context, cartellino rosso refers to a red card.
Meaning: sports: card (noun)
Which one should you use?
To say 'yellow card', replace the adjective rosso with giallo to form cartellino giallo.
How does it change in a sentence?
The plural form of cartellino rosso is cartellini rossi, where both the noun and the adjective take the masculine plural ending -i.
Did you know?
- In Italian-speaking football culture, the term cartellino is often used metaphorically to describe a 'black mark' or a warning in one's reputation.
- The word cartellino is a diminutive of cartello, which means 'sign' or 'poster'. This makes a red card literally a 'little sign'.
- Because Italian is a Romance language, the word rosso shares the same Latin root, 'russus', as the English word 'russet'.
Examples in context
- Gli ha mostrato il cartellino rosso.He's shown him the red card.This sentence is useful for seeing how to say that someone has been shown the cartellino rosso.Tatoeba #8888249 by Guybrush88, translation #8888182 by sundown
- Durante la partita, l'arbitro ha estratto il cartellino rosso.During the game, the referee pulled out the red card.
- L'arbitro ha estratto il cartellino rosso.The referee pulled out the red card.
- Dopo il cartellino rosso, il giocatore è uscito.After the red card, the player left the field.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are watching a football match on TV.
- MartinaHai visto? Ha preso il cartellino rosso!Did you see? He got the red card!
- MatteoSì, è stato un fallo brutto.Yes, it was a nasty foul.
- MartinaOra la squadra giocherà in dieci.Now the team will play with ten.
- MatteoSarà difficile vincere così, Matteo.It will be hard to win like this, Matteo.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “red card” translations and entries cartellino rosso, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (cartellino, rosso) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries cartellino, rosso, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
