Cioè (tcho-eh) is one of Italy’s most common intercalari, those words we like to throw here and there while we talk, but hey! It has a real meaning, too.
Cioè is the contraction of two words, ciò, this/that, and è, “is,” the third person singular of the verb to be. Its meaning corresponds to the English “that is,” “that is to say,” or “namely,” as in the sentence il progetto deve essere consegnato il 26 di Novembre, cioè tra una settimana (“the project’s deadline is on the 26th of November, that is to say, in one week”).
