appetizer

Etymology

It is formed from English appetize + -er.^[2][3][4] Dictionary.com takes the base from appetizing instead.^[5] The OED traces the verb to French appétissant (“appetizing”), recorded from the 14th century, and appétissé, given by Cotgrave, participles of a French verb that is itself not found, later assimilated to verbs in -ize.^[2] Etymonline instead takes it as formed irregularly from appetite, or else as a back-formation from the adjective.^[3] The noun appetite is ultimately Latin appetītus (“appetite, longing”), from appetō (“to long for, strive for”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something taken to create a relish for food: Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1782 as the first known use.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to 1820,^[3] and the OED's first quotation is from a note to Byron's Don Juan, Canto V (1821).^[2] The Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com, which give the mid 19th century and 1860–65, are later.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant anything that whets the appetite, whether eaten or drunk.^[2][4] From 1843 it was used figuratively for a sample of what is to come.^[2] In current use it is usually a small dish or drink served before a meal, such as a canapé or aperitif.^[6][7] Green's Dictionary of Slang records a use in American gay slang of 1972, for the first of a day's sexual partners.^[8]

Timeline

• 1782 – something taken to stimulate the appetite.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to 1820,^[3] and the OED to 1821.^[2]
• 1843 – figuratively, a sample of what may follow.^[2]
• 1972 – in American gay slang, the first sexual partner of many in one day.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small amount of food or drink, such as an hors d'oeuvre or a cocktail, taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite: We ordered stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer.^[6][7][4]
2. Something that stimulates a desire for more; a foretaste: The short story was a mere appetizer for the novel.^[6][7][2]

Related words

• appetite
• appetize
• appetizing

Usage notes

Collins gives appetiser as an equal variant, while Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it less common.^[7][6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com