“Capisce?” is American pseudo-Italian slang for “understand?” and functions rather like “know what I mean?” In Italian this form would be used only in a formal setting; the typically casual American-style contexts would require capischi.

Since American slang uses the wrong spelling by Italian standards anyway, it probably doesn’t matter that it’s often misspelled as “capeesh”; but “kapeesh” is really uncool: there’s no K in Italian.

In formal Italian, capisce is pronounced “cah-PEE-sheh,” but in slangy Italian and English it’s “cah-PEESH.”

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