Etymologically
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dish

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 07:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dɪʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English disc (“plate, bowl, platter”),[2][3][4][5] an early West Germanic borrowing, like Old Saxon disk (“table”) and Old High German tisc (“dish, table”) (German Tisch, table), all borrowed from Latin discus (“dish, platter, quoit”),[2][3][5] from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “disc, platter”) (see disc).[2][3] It is related to desk, dais and discus.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A broad shallow vessel for food: about 700 in Barnhart, before 700 in the OED.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A drinking vessel, or a beggar's bowl, is from 1381.[7] The food served in a dish, a particular kind of food, is from the mid-15th century, 1526 in the OED.[3][7] What suits one's taste is by 1918, and an attractive person, usually a woman, from the 1920s, at first in the US.[3][6] A concave reflector or aerial is from 1948, and the satellite dish from the 1980s.[3][6] The verb, to serve food in a dish, is from the late 14th century;[3] dish it out is from 1934, dish the dirt from the early 20th century, and to disparage by the 1940s.[3][6]

Timeline

  • before 700 – a plate, bowl.[7][2]
  • late 14th century – the verb.[3]
  • mid-15th century – a kind of food.[3]
  • 1920s – an attractive person.[3]
  • 1948 – a dish aerial.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A shallow container for cooking or serving food.
  2. A particular kind of prepared food: a fish dish.
  3. the dishes: all the plates and utensils used for a meal.
  4. A dish-shaped aerial or reflector.
  5. (informal) A sexually attractive person.

Verb

  1. To put food into a dish for serving, often with up.
  2. dish out: to give out freely.

Word family

  • deep-dish
  • dishcloth
  • dishclout
  • dished
  • dishpan
  • dishrag
  • dishtowel
  • dishware

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press