caviar

Etymology

English took the word from Italian and French in the 16th century.^[2][3][4] It is probably borrowed from Italian caviari, the plural of caviaro, now caviale,^[3][5][6][7] and the earlier English form caviarie was altered to caviar probably under the influence of French caviar, which comes from the Italian.^[5][3][2] Barnhart takes it straight from the French.^[8] Most dictionaries trace the Italian word to Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), in modern spelling Turkish havyar,^[3][5][9][8] and that to Persian خَاوْیَار (khāviyār).^[3][9][1] The American Heritage Dictionary takes the Persian word as probably a Caspian dialect form of a compound meaning "egg-holding", from the words for "egg", Middle Persian xāyag, and "holder";^[3] Nişanyan likewise derives the Turkish word, with some doubt, from a Persian word meaning "egg-bearing", and dates it in Turkish to 1360.^[10] The OED, however, calls the word of uncertain origin and quotes the view that it has no root in Turkish and does not look Turkish.^[2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive it instead from a medieval Greek word, from which the Turkish may also come,^[7][4] and the Turkish dictionaries of Tietze and Kubbealtı also favour a Greek source.^[11][12] Klein gives the Greek form as Byzantine Greek καβιάριον (kabiárion), which he derives from the Turkish.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The salted roe of the sturgeon and other large fish: about 1560 according to Merriam-Webster and Barnhart,^[5][8] the 1550s according to Etymonline.^[9] The OED's first quotation is from 1591, in Fletcher's Of the Russe Common Wealth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English with many spellings and pronunciations, after Italian and French; at first it had four syllables stressed on the third, as in Italian, and by about 1700 the usual forms were rhymed with prepare and cheer.^[2] Because caviar was an acquired taste, Shakespeare's Hamlet (1603) calls a play that pleased not the many "caviare to the general", and the phrase came to mean a good thing that ordinary people do not appreciate.^[2][5][14] In the late 19th century it was used for a passage blacked out by a censor, originally in Russia, from the look of the inked stamp, and as a verb for blacking out such a passage.^[2][5] Merriam-Webster also records it for the best thing of its kind.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – the salted roe of sturgeon and other large fish.^[5][8] The OED's first quotation is from 1591.^[2]
• 1603 – caviare to the general, in Shakespeare's Hamlet.^[2]
• 1890 – verb, to black out a passage with a censor's stamp.^[2]
• 1899 – noun, a passage blacked out by a censor.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The salted roe of the sturgeon or another large fish, eaten as a delicacy: They served blinis topped with sour cream and caviar.^[6][5][2]
2. Something regarded as the best of its kind.^[5]
3. caviar to the general: a fine thing that ordinary people cannot appreciate.^[14][5][2]
4. (slang) A passage blacked out by a censor.^[2][5]

Related words

• roe
• sturgeon

Usage notes

It is also spelled caviare.^[6][5][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
11. ^ Tietze, Andreas (2002–2018), Tarihi ve Etimolojik Türkiye Türkçesi Lugatı, Istanbul: Simurg; Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences
12. ^ Kubbealtı Lugatı: Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press