roux

Etymology

It is borrowed from French roux,^[2][3][4][5] the noun use (recorded in French from 1762) of the adjective roux, red, in beurre roux (“browned butter”) (1679).^[2][3][6][4] The French adjective comes from Old French rous (“reddish brown”),^[6][3] from Latin russus (“red”),^[6][4][7][5] which is related to ruber (“red”),^[4][8] from Proto-Indo-European *reudh- (“red, ruddy”).^[4][6] The same French and Latin words are the source of russet.^[3][7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A mixture of fat and flour heated together, used to thicken sauces and soups: 1793, in an English translation of Menon's French Family Cook.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1813,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1805–15.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The French name described the colour of butter browned in the pan, literally "red" butter.^[2][6] In English the word has kept its single culinary sense; the OED adds that the mixture is used to thicken a dish or to give it flavour,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that the flour is only sometimes cooked until it browns.^[3]

Timeline

• 1793 – a cooked mixture of fat and flour used in sauces and soups.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mixture of fat, usually butter, and flour, cooked together and used as a base to thicken sauces, soups and gravies: Whisk the milk slowly into the roux.^[3][5][2]

Related words

• russet
• red
• ruddy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House