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stew

Etymology and origin of the English word stew

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /stu/; /stjuː/, /stʃuː/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English stewen (“to bathe in a steam bath”),[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French estuver (“to bathe; to stew”),[2][3][4][5] a word of uncertain origin,[3][4] possibly from Vulgar Latin *extūfāre (“to evaporate”), from ex- “out” and *tūfus “vapour”, from Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, “smoke”).[2][3][4] The noun first meant a cooking pot or a heated room, from Old French estuve “heated room, bath”.[3][4][6] It may be related to stove.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a vessel for boiling, a cauldron (c. 1305)[7][3][4] and a heated room for steam baths (1390).[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Because public bath-houses were often used for immoral purposes, the stews came to mean brothels or a district of brothels (1362).[7][4][5] The verb meant “to bathe in a steam bath” (c. 1400)[7][4] and then “to cook by slow boiling” (c. 1420).[7][3] The noun “meat slowly boiled with vegetables” is recorded only from 1756.[3][4] Figurative uses include to stew in one's own juice, “to suffer the consequences of one's own actions” (1656 in other forms, 1885 in this one),[7][4] and in a stew, “in a state of agitation” (1806).[4] The slang stewed “drunk” dates from 1737.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1305 – a cauldron (obsolete).[7]
  • 1362 – stews, brothels.[7]
  • 1390 – a heated room for hot baths.[7]
  • c. 1400 – verb, to bathe in a vapour bath.[7]
  • c. 1420 – verb, to cook by slow boiling.[7][3]
  • 1737 – stewed, drunk.[4]
  • 1756 – a dish of stewed meat.[3][4]
  • 1806 – a state of agitation.[4]
  • 1970 – short for stewardess.[7][6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To cook (food) by slow boiling or simmering.
  2. To be cooked in this way.
  3. To swelter in a hot or stuffy place.
  4. To be in a state of anxiety, worry or suppressed resentment; to fret.

Noun

  1. A dish cooked by stewing, especially meat or fish with vegetables in a stock.
  2. A mixture likened to this dish; a hodgepodge.
  3. A state of agitation or worry.
  4. (archaic) A brothel, or a district of brothels.
  5. (informal) A flight attendant.

Word family

  • stewy
  • stewpan
  • stewpot
  • Irish stew
  • stove
  • ragout
  • casserole

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Stew.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/stew. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·