roast

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹoʊst/, /ɹəʊst/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rosten, borrowed from Old French rostir (“to roast, burn”),^[2][3][4] from Frankish *hraustjan,^[3][2] of West Germanic origin, cognate with Old High German rōsten, Middle Dutch roosten and German rösten,^[3][4] originally to cook on a grate, related to German Rost (“gridiron”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cook by dry heat: about 1280 in Barnhart, the late 13th century in Etymonline.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Roasting was originally cooking before a fire and baking cooking in an oven;^[5] the OED notes that roast is now often used of cooking meat in an oven.^[3] The noun, a piece of roast meat, is from about 1330.^[6][2] Roasting coffee beans is by 1724.^[3] To make fun of someone is from 1710,^[3][2][5] and the noun, unmerciful banter, from 1740;^[3][6] a roast as a comic tribute to a guest of honour is American English from about 1900.^[2][7] To rule the roast is from the 15th century.^[6] Roast beef is from the 1630s, and French rosbif is from English.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – to roast.^[2]
• c. 1330 – a roast (noun).^[6]
• 1630s – roast beef.^[3]
• 1710 – to ridicule.^[3][2]
• c. 1900 – a roast, a comic tribute.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To cook meat or other food by dry heat, especially in an oven.
2. To dry or brown by heating, as coffee beans.
3. To be or make very hot.
4. (informal) To criticize or tease harshly.

Noun

1. A cut of meat for roasting, or one that has been roasted.
2. An event at which someone is honoured with affectionate mockery.

Adjective

1. Roasted: roast chicken.

Word family

• roastable
• overroast
• underroast
• roasting ear
• crown roast
• pot roast

Related words

• roster
• toast
• bake

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin