Menu

How to spell menu

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce menu

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does menu mean?

1. nounA list of the dishes available in a restaurant or at a meal.
2. nounA displayed list of commands or options from which a user can choose.

Menu in a sentence

• The waiter handed each diner a printed menu before taking drink orders.

• Click the file menu to find the save and print commands.

• The lunch menu changes daily depending on what produce is fresh.

• The settings are buried in a drop-down menu at the top of the screen.

Where does menu come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes from the French menu, which as an adjective meant 'small' or 'detailed', and ultimately traces back to the Latin minutus, meaning 'made small' or 'diminished', the same root that gives us 'minute' and 'diminish'. In French the phrase 'menu de repas' meant a detailed list of the dishes in a meal, and the noun menu came to stand for that itemised bill of fare. English borrowed the word in the early nineteenth century along with the fashion for French cuisine and restaurant dining. The original sense of 'small' explains why a menu was literally a small, detailed list rather than anything grand. In the late twentieth century the word naturally extended to computing, where a menu is an on-screen list of options you can select.

How the word is built

• menu (from French menu: small, detailed list)