Biretta definition

bə-rĕtə
A stiff square cap with three or four ridges across the crown. Birettas are worn especially by Roman Catholic clergy and are black for priests, purple for bishops, and red for cardinals.
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A hard, square, ceremonial hat with three or four vertical projections and sometimes with a pompom or tassel at the top, worn by Roman Catholic clergy.
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A square cap, originally with four ridges across the top, surmounted by a tuft, worn by Roman Catholic clergy (by some in the Anglican Church). A three-sided biretta is worn by Roman Catholic clergy for liturgical celebrations.
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Alternative Forms

Alternative Form of biretta - beretta

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
biretta
Plural:
birettas

Origin of biretta

  • Italian berretta from Old Provençal berret cap from Late Latin birrus hooded cloak probably of Celtic origin perhaps akin to Irish berr Welsh byrr short

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Italian 'biretta'

    From Wiktionary

Biretta Sentence Examples

  • This red biretta is called the zucchetto.

  • The introduction of the biretta in the 15th century tended to replace the use of the almuce as a head-covering, and the hood now became smaller, while the cape was enlarged till in some cases it fell below the elbows.

  • Though the form of the biretta, devised in the 17th century, is peculiar to the Roman Church, it is but a variant of the original biretum, which developed in various countries into head-coverings of different shapes and significance.

  • At the outset there was little to distinguish the biretum from the pileus or pileolus (skull-cap), a non-liturgical cap worn by dignitaries of the Church under the mitre and even under the biretta.

  • With the extension of its use, too, the custom grew up (c. 1300) of investing clerks with the biretum as the symbol of the transfer of a benefice, a custom which survives, in Roman Catholic countries, in the solemn delivery of the red biretta by the head of the state to newly created cardinals, who afterwards go to Rome to receive the red hat.

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