Etymologically
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cheesecake

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈt͡ʃiːzˌkeɪk/[1]
  • US: /ˈt͡ʃizˌkeɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English cheese + cake,[2][3][4] first as late Middle English chese kake.[4] The first element goes back to Old English cēse,[5] and the second comes from Old Norse kaka.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tart or pie filled with a mixture first made with cheese, later usually with curds or cream, eggs, sugar, butter and flavourings: 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

The filling changed before the name did: the early cheesecake contained cheese, later sweetened soft curds.[3][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as a cake of soft curds, sugar and butter.[6] Figuratively the word stood for something soft or effeminate in the 18th century,[3] and in 17th-century slang for a prostitute, part of a long habit of equating food with attractive women.[7] The modern slang sense, photographs of attractive women showing their bodies, began in the United States: Green's Dictionary of Slang cites a cartoon character, Mlle Cheesecake, in 1913, the OED's first record is from 1929, and Etymonline dates it to 1933.[7][2][3] In 1934 Time magazine explained it as leg-pictures of sporty women.[3][7] Etymonline quotes John Ayto that none of the fanciful theories about the origin of this sense is convincing;[3] Green's Dictionary of Slang tentatively suggests a photographer's call to "say cheese".[7]

Timeline

  • 1440 – a tart or pie with a filling of cheese or curds.[2]
  • 1656 – in slang, a prostitute.[7]
  • 1913 – Mlle Cheesecake, in a cartoon strip by T. A. Dorgan.[7]
  • 1929 – revealing photographs of women.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1933.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A rich dessert made with soft or cream cheese, eggs and sugar, baked or set in a pastry case or on a base of crushed biscuits: a slice of lemon cheesecake.[5][8][9]
  2. (informal) Photographs or displays of attractive, scantily dressed women; pin-up pictures.[5][8][2][7]
  3. (obsolete) A tart or pie filled with cheese or curds, eggs, sugar and butter.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins