entry
cuisine
/kwɪˈziːn/distinctive style of cooking or food
From Latin coqu- (to cook).
from PIE root *pekw- "to cook, ripen."
from Latin coquere "to cook,"
from Late Latin cocina , earlier coquina "kitchen,"
+1 more sourcefrom French cuisine "style of cooking," originally "kitchen; cooking, cooked food" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom French cuisine "style of cooking," originally "kitchen; cooking, cooked food" (12c.)
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE root *pekw- "to cook, ripen."
from Latin coquere "to cook,"
from Late Latin cocina , earlier coquina "kitchen,"
+1 more sourcefrom French cuisine "style of cooking," originally "kitchen; cooking, cooked food" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom French cuisine "style of cooking," originally "kitchen; cooking, cooked food" (12c.)
+1 more sourceThis word began in the most ordinary place imaginable: the kitchen. Roman cooks worked with Latin coquere, “to cook,” a descendant of the old Proto-Indo-European root *pekw-, the same ancestral family behind ideas of ripening and baking. From that came Late Latin cocina or coquina, a room for cooking, which French turned into cuisine — and by 1786 English had borrowed it, not for the room itself but for the whole elegant style of food coming out of it. That’s why cuisine sits beside humble cousins like kitchen and cook, even though in English it sounds fancier, as if a frying pan had put on a silk waistcoat. The word is a reminder that every grand national food tradition still starts with heat, smoke, and somebody trying not to burn supper.
The Story
This word began in the most ordinary place imaginable: the kitchen. Roman cooks worked with Latin coquere, “to cook,” a descendant of the old Proto-Indo-European root *pekw-, the same ancestral family behind ideas of ripening and baking. From that came Late Latin cocina or coquina, a room for cooking, which French turned into cuisine — and by 1786 English had borrowed it, not for the room itself but for the whole elegant style of food coming out of it. That’s why cuisine sits beside humble cousins like kitchen and cook, even though in English it sounds fancier, as if a frying pan had put on a silk waistcoat. The word is a reminder that every grand national food tradition still starts with heat, smoke, and somebody trying not to burn supper.
Kin & Kindred
From 'coqu-'·to cook, ripen
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary