cutlet

Etymology

It is borrowed from French côtelette,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} earlier costelette (the source of the 18th-century English spelling),^[2] from Old French costelette (“little rib”),^[3][4][7] a double diminutive of coste (“rib, side”), formed with -ette on the earlier diminutive costele,^[4][2][3] from Latin costa (“rib, side”),^[3][4][6] the source of coast and costal.^[8][3] The American Heritage Dictionary places the Latin word under the root Proto-Indo-European *kost-.^[6] The English spelling has been shaped by cut and the diminutive -let, as if the word meant "a small cut";^{[4][7][2][9][8]} Weekley stresses that it has no connection with cut.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small piece of meat, usually mutton or veal, cut from the ribs for broiling or frying: 1706, in the new edition of Phillips's New World of Words.^[2][4][3] Merriam-Webster gives 1682 as its first date.^[5][11]

Semantic evolution

The French word was a "little rib", and the OED notes that a mutton cutlet was usually cut from the ribs, especially the smaller ones near the neck.^[2] Etymonline describes the veal or mutton cutlet as cut from the upper part of the leg.^[3] The meaning widened from a rib chop to any small slice of meat for frying,^[2][9] and then to a flat cake of minced meat, fish or other food shaped like one.^{[5][9][12][13]} The Shorter Oxford records the nut cutlet, made of chopped nuts.^[9] On menus the French form is often used.^[2]

Timeline

• 1706 – a small piece of meat, especially from the ribs, for broiling or frying.^[2][4][3] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1682.^[5][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, thin slice of meat, especially veal, lamb or pork, cut from the leg or ribs, for frying or grilling: They had breaded pork cutlets for dinner.^{[12][11][5][13]}
2. A neck chop of mutton or lamb.^[9][13]
3. A flat cake of minced meat, fish or other food shaped like a cutlet, usually coated with breadcrumbs and fried; a flat croquette: a lentil cutlet.^{[12][11][5][13]}

Related words

• coast
• costal
• accost
• cut

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins