Etymologically
Log in

cuisine

Etymology and origin of the French word cuisine

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1155, Wace, Brut
Inherited from
Latin cocina
Ultimate origin
Latin (coquō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɥi.zin/[1]

Forms

cuisine f (plural cuisines)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cocīna, an altered form of coquīna (“kitchen; cookery”), derived from coquus (“cook”) and coquō (“to cook”), whence cuire.[2][3][4][5][6] Rey finds the link with “coquīnus” (see coquin) still obscure.[3] Old French also had the forms “quisine”, “quesine” and “cosine”.[7][8]

Cognate with Italian cucina, Old Occitan cozina, Catalan cuina, Spanish cocina and Portuguese cozinha.[9][4][7] The Latin word was also borrowed into Germanic and Celtic, as German Küche and Welsh cegin; English kitchen is a cognate.[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Brut (1155) cuisine is the preparation of food and the art of cooking; the kitchen as a room is in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide (about 1170).[2]

Semantic evolution

About 1170 it also meant cooked dishes, and in 1740 the Académie records it for the kitchen staff.[2][3] From the 12th century it named kitchens in monasteries, castles and great houses, and later in private homes; the bourgeois distinction of cuisine, office and salle à manger was unknown to rural and working-class homes.[3] In the 18th century the art of cooking came to be distinguished from pastry and preserves.[3] Voltaire used it figuratively of underhand dealings in literature and politics (before 1778).[2]

Latin de cuisine means bad Latin, and français de cuisine is found in 1806, haute cuisine is in Grimod de La Reynière (1808).[3][10] Army slang made cuistance (1912) and cuistot (1894).[3] English borrowed cuisine in 1786 for a style of cooking.[11]

Timeline

  • 1155 – The art of cooking, Wace.[2]
  • c. 1170 – The kitchen, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • c. 1200 – Quisinier, a cook.[3]
  • 1740 – The kitchen staff.[2]
  • 1786 – English borrows cuisine.[11]
  • 1808 – Haute cuisine.[10]
  • 1894 – Cuistot.[3]
  • 1936 – Cuisinette.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A kitchen: manger à la cuisine, cuisine équipée.[12][13]
  2. Kitchen furniture and fittings; the kitchen staff.[14]
  3. cooking, the art of preparing food: faire la cuisine, livre de cuisine.[13][5]
  4. A style of cooking; the dishes prepared: la cuisine française, la cuisine du restaurant.[14][5]
  5. (familiar, figurative) Scheming, underhand dealings: la cuisine électorale.[2][3]

Word family

  • cuisiner
  • cuisinier
  • cuisinière
  • cuisinette
  • cuisiniste
  • cuistot
  • arrière-cuisine

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1167b
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  13. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  14. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cuisine.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/cuisine. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·