relish

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reles (“odour, scent, taste, aftertaste”),^[2][3][4][5] with the stress shifted and the ending made like the suffix -ish,^[6] borrowed from Old French reles, a variant of relais (“something remaining, that which is left behind”),^{[3][7][8][9][10]} from relaissier (“to leave behind”),^[9][3] from Latin relaxō (“to loosen, stretch out”),^[3][9] formed from re- (“back”) and laxō (“to loosen”), from laxus (“loose”).^[3][11] It is thus the same word as release, and ultimately as relax.^[11][6] Hoad notes that the English senses are not recorded in Old French;^[8] the OED thinks they probably grew out of the French sense "remainder, residue", and Weekley that the original meaning was probably "aftertaste", though that is not recorded either.^[6][12] Johnson had derived it from a French verb meaning to lick again.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

As reles, a scent or a taste, about 1330, in Sir Tristrem;^[6][2] Etymonline dates reles to about 1300.^[3] The form relish, meaning a taste or flavour, is first recorded in 1530, in Palsgrave's French–English dictionary.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

From "a taste, a flavour", relish moved to "an appetizing flavour" (1599) and, as in other taste words, to the pleasure of the person tasting: "liking, zest", from 1583.^[6][3][10] The verb, formed from the noun, followed the same path: "to have a certain taste" (1566), "to give flavour to" (1582) and "to take pleasure in" (1580), so that it could describe both the food and the eater;^[6][3] Etymonline compares the similar reversals in like, please and disgust.^[3] A relish as something savoury served with a meal is recorded from Boswell in 1773,^[6][10] and the condiment of chopped pickled vegetables is originally American, from 1826 in Cooper.^[6] In Scotland and Yorkshire the verb meant to give relish to food or drink.^[14] In 19th-century slang relish was also sexual intercourse.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – reles, odour, taste, aftertaste.^[6][2]
• 1530 – relish, a taste or flavour.^[6][4]
• 1566 – verb, to have a certain taste.^[6][5]
• 1580 – verb, to take pleasure in.^[6] Etymonline dates this to the 1590s.^[3]
• 1582 – verb, to give flavour to.^[6]
• 1583 – liking, zest.^[6] Barnhart dates this to 1649.^[4]
• 1599 – appetizing flavour.^[6]
• 1773 – a savoury course or appetizer.^[6]
• 1826 – a condiment of chopped pickled vegetables, first in the United States.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Great enjoyment or zest: The children tore into their presents with relish.^[16][5][6]
2. A spicy or tangy condiment, especially of chopped pickled vegetables, eaten with other food.^[16][5][6]
3. (rare) A pleasing or distinctive flavour.^[5][6]

Verb

1. To enjoy greatly; to savour: He relished every minute of the holiday.^[16][5][6]
2. To look forward to with pleasure, often in negative contexts: Nobody relished the idea of a long drive home.^[16][6]
3. To give flavour to; to make appetizing.^[16][5][6]

Word family

• relishable
• relishingly
• disrelish
• unrelishable
• unrelished

Related words

• release
• relax
• relay
• lax

Usage notes

In joinery a relish is a projection or shoulder on a tenon, probably from the French relais in the sense of a projection of masonry.^[6][5] In early English music a relish was an ornament made up of trills, and the verb meant to warble or sing with ornaments.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins