diff --git a/xarray/core/formatting.py b/xarray/core/formatting.py
index 993cddf2b57..7088bd40a06 100644
--- a/xarray/core/formatting.py
+++ b/xarray/core/formatting.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ def format_item(x, timedelta_format=None, quote_strings=True):
         if hasattr(x, "dtype"):
             x = x.item()
         return repr(x) if quote_strings else x
-    elif hasattr(x, "dtype") and np.issubdtype(x.dtype, np.floating):
+    elif hasattr(x, "dtype") and np.issubdtype(x.dtype, np.floating) and x.size == 1:
         return f"{x.item():.4}"
     else:
         return str(x)
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_formatting.py b/xarray/tests/test_formatting.py
index 2e0925c1b9a..dce1528c7ae 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_formatting.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_formatting.py
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ def test_format_item(self) -> None:
             (np.float16(1.1234), "1.123"),
             (np.float32(1.0111111), "1.011"),
             (np.float64(22.222222), "22.22"),
+            (np.zeros((1, 1)), "0.0"),
+            (np.zeros(2), "[0. 0.]"),
+            (np.zeros((2, 2)), "[[0. 0.]\n [0. 0.]]"),
         ]
         for item, expected in cases:
             actual = formatting.format_item(item)