Mustard

How to spell mustard

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mustard

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mustard mean?

1. nounA pungent yellow or brown paste or powder made from the ground seeds of the mustard plant, used as a condiment.
2. adjectiveOf a dull brownish-yellow colour resembling the condiment.

Mustard in a sentence

• noun

  He spread a thin layer of mustard on the ham sandwich.

• adjective

  She chose a mustard jumper to match the autumn leaves.

• noun

  The recipe calls for a teaspoon of English mustard in the dressing.

• adjective

  The living room walls were painted a warm mustard tone.

Where does mustard come from?

Language of origin: French

Mustard came into English in the 1200s from Old French moustarde, a word formed from moust, meaning 'must', the freshly pressed, unfermented grape juice. The connection is practical rather than poetic: the pungent paste was originally made by grinding the hot-tasting seeds of the mustard plant and mixing them with this sweet grape must. The French moust traces back to the Latin mustum, the term Roman writers used for new wine before it fermented. Over time the name of the preparation transferred to the plant and its seeds themselves, so today we call the whole plant mustard. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed second syllable, which sounds like a vague 'erd' but is written '-ard', echoing the old French suffix.

How the word is built

• must (from Latin mustum, the unfermented grape juice once used to make the paste)
• -ard (noun suffix)