gourmand
English
WOTD – 2 March 2010
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French gourmant.
Noun
gourmand (plural gourmands)
- A person given to excess in the consumption of food and drink; a greedy or ravenous eater.
- (Can we date this quote?) Ben Jonson
- That great gourmand, fat Apicius
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803:
- The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.
- (Can we date this quote?) Ben Jonson
- A person who appreciates good food.
Synonyms
- (person given to excess consumption): glutton, trencherman, see also Thesaurus:glutton
- (person who appreciates food): chowhound, gastronaut, gourmet
- (person with a special interest or knowledge of food): foodie
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
person given to excess in the consumption of food and drink
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person who appreciates good food
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French
Etymology
From Middle French gourmant (“glutton”), originally an adjectival form, from Old French, where it had the sense of trencherman, but of uncertain ultimate origin.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡuʁ.mɑ̃/
Audio (France, Paris) (file) - Homophone: gourmands
- Hyphenation: gour‧mand
Adjective
gourmand (feminine singular gourmande, masculine plural gourmands, feminine plural gourmandes)
- eating a lot
- (more recently) having a love for good food, demanding of food quality
Noun
gourmand m (plural gourmands, feminine gourmande)
- a person who eats a lot, or who has refined tastes in food
Usage notes
The French and English usages of this word are false friends. While the English word has evolved to emphasize the excesses of a gourmand, the French word has become more associated with refined tastes in food. See also gourmet, which has considerable overlap with this word.
Further reading
- “gourmand” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Norman
Etymology
From Old French, where it had the sense of trencherman, but of uncertain ultimate origin
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