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Pizza: Countable or Uncountable? | Mastering Grammar

(Last Updated: 4 February 2024)


Is Pizza Countable or Uncountable?

The word pizza can be both countable and uncountable, depending on the context in which it is used.

Pizza as a Countable Noun

When referring to individual pizzas, you can count them:

✅ I ordered a pizza (= a whole pizza) with pepperoni and mushrooms.

We ordered two pizzas for the party.

✅ There are three pizzas on the table.

✅ How many pizzas should we order for the team?

✅ The two pizzas we ordered were enough to feed the whole family.

Pizza as an Uncountable Noun

If you are referring to pizza as a type of food without specifying quantity, it is treated as uncountable:

✅ I'm in the mood for some pizza (= an unspecified amount of pizza).

✅ My brother could eat pizza every day.

✅ Pizza is my favourite food, especially with extra cheese.

✅ We had pizza for dinner, which was really satisfying.

✅ She doesn't like pizza with pineapple on it.

Pizza as an Attributive Noun

Pizza can be used as an attributive noun, where it acts like an adjective to modify another noun. When used in this way, pizza is in the singular form:

✅ I made homemade pizza sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil.

She prefers a thick pizza crust to a thin one.

✅ Please recycle the pizza box after you finish eating.

He asked for an extra pizza topping.

I need to let the pizza dough rise before I can bake it.

In all these examples, pizza describes the type of sauce, crust, box, etc., and should be in the singular form (i.e. not pizzas).

In summary, pizza is countable when it refers to a whole pizza, and uncountable when it refers to pizza as a type of food. 

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Examples from the Media

Searching online, Benevenga learned about pinsa, derived from the Latin word "pinsere," which describes the spreading, pressing motion used to stretch the dough. The dough has a higher water content than that of typical pizza, requiring more resting time to allow the flour to absorb the liquid and form the bubbles necessary for its structure. Toronto Star (2022)

There are as many ways to make dough as there are to make love, but Mariano's simple, beautiful, one-step dough is an easy path to pizza success. The best time to make this dough is the day before you want to cook, but you can also make it in the morning and have pizza for dinner. The Sydney Morning Herald (2023)

A former sous chef at the Inn at Little Washington, Logan Griffith tinkered with his toppings, and their portions, until he engineered a pizza in which every ingredient had its say: the tomato sauce, pesto, olives, preserved tomatoes, browned onions, parsley, crust and charred octopus, each one no more dominant than the other. —The Washington Post (2020) 

How do two pizzas with a diameter of 10 inches compare in size to one with a diameter of 20 inches? —Daily Mail (2023)

Recommended Further Reading

'Food' or 'Foods'?
'Fish' or 'Fishes'?
'Noodle' or 'Noodles'?

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