Cuisine

How to spell cuisine

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cuisine

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cuisine mean?

1. nounA style or manner of cooking, typically associated with a particular country, region, or establishment.

Cuisine in a sentence

• The restaurant specialises in regional French cuisine.

• Travellers often praise the local cuisine as the highlight of the trip.

Where does cuisine come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English from French in the late 1700s, where cuisine meant simply 'kitchen' before it broadened to describe a style or manner of cooking. The French term traces back to the Late Latin coquina, meaning 'kitchen', which itself grew from the verb coquere, 'to cook'. That same Latin root for cooking lies behind a whole family of English words, including 'cook', 'kitchen', 'concoct', and even 'biscuit' (literally 'twice cooked'). The spelling preserves its French shape entirely: the 'cuis' opening and the silent-feeling 'ine' ending are exactly what trip up writers who expect a more English construction. Knowing it is borrowed wholesale from French, complete with that 'ui' cluster, is the best anchor for remembering the spelling.

How the word is built

• cuis- (from Latin coquere: to cook)
• -ine (noun suffix)