Caviar

How to spell caviar

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce caviar

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does caviar mean?

1. nounThe salted roe (eggs) of sturgeon or certain other fish, served as a luxury delicacy.

Caviar in a sentence

• The waiter served a small spoonful of caviar on a chilled blini.

• A tin of imported caviar cost more than the rest of the dinner combined.

Where does caviar come from?

Language of origin: French

This word travelled a long way before it reached English plates. Its ultimate source is the Persian khaviyar, which combined khaya, meaning 'egg', with the element dar, meaning 'bearing' or 'holding', so the original sense was literally 'egg-bearing'. From Persian the term passed into Turkish, and from there into Italian as caviale and into French as caviar, which is the form English adopted in the late 1500s. The delicacy itself, salted sturgeon roe, was long associated with the Caspian and Black Sea regions, which is why the eastern, Persian-rooted name stuck. The spelling trap lies in that quiet ending: the word looks French and finishes with a silent flourish, so writers often hesitate over the single 'v', the 'ia' vowel cluster, and whether an 'e' belongs on the end (it does not in standard English).

How the word is built

• caviar (a single borrowed root; from Persian khaviyar: khaya 'egg'
• dar 'bearing/holder')