paparazzi

noun, plural pa·pa·raz·zi [pah-puh–raht-see; Italian pah-pah-raht-tsee] /ˌpɑ pəˈrɑt si; Italian ˌpɑ pɑˈrɑt tsi/.

1. a freelance photographer, especially one who takes candid pictures of celebrities for publication.

noun plural -razzi (-ˈrætsiː)

1. a freelance photographer who specializes in candid camera shots of famous people and often invades their privacy to obtain such photographs

n.1961, from Italian Paparazzo (plural paparazzi) surname of the freelance photographer in Federico Fellini’s 1959 film “La Dolce Vita.” The surname itself is of no special significance; it is said to be a common one in Calabria, and Fellini is said to have borrowed it from a travel book, “By the Ionian Sea,” in which occurs the name of hotel owner Coriolano Paparazzo. n.see paparazzi.