It has been estimated that there are approximately 350 different types of pasta and about four times as many names for them! This is due to the fact that some types may have different names in different languages, or even in the same language. For eg in Italy, names vary according to the region or area. In addition, pasta manufacturers and cooks may come up with new shapes or give new names to old shapes…the possibilities thus become endless!
It is interesting to note that Italian pasta names often end with the masculine plural suffixes –ini, -elli, -illi, -etti or the feminine plurals -ine, -elle, to convey the sense of "little"; or with -oni, -one, meaning "large". Other suffixes include: -otti ("largish") and -acci ("rough", "badly made"). In Italian, all pasta type names are plural. Pasta ending in 'ini' may be a smaller version of a particular shape, and pasta ending in 'oni' the larger one. For example, spaghettini (smallest), spaghetti (regular), spaghettoni (largest).
Pasta shapes are specifically designed to hold the sauce in the best way possible.
The easiest way to categorize pasta is into long, short and soup shapes. Long pasta can be further divided into cylindrical, either solid or hollow, and rectangular or rounded. The first group includes such forebears as spaghetti and vermicelli.