gourmet

UK/ˈɡʊəmeɪ/US/ɡʊɹˈmeɪ/

adjectiveC12 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,653 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: gourmets

Gourmet means of the finest and most refined cooking quality. Gourmet food, a gourmet meal, gourmet coffee.

As a noun it means somebody who knows and cares about good food. As an adjective it has been attached to so many supermarket products that it now signals a higher price more reliably than higher quality. Gourmand is the near relative and means somebody who eats a great deal, which is not the same compliment. Note the pronunciation, GORE-may, with a silent t.

Definitions of gourmet

1adjectivegourmetOf the finest, most refined cooking quality.C1
“The market sells gourmet cheeses from all over France.”
- Said"It's a gourmet burger, apparently, which is why it costs eighteen pounds."
- WrittenThe gourmets in the shop bought six kinds of salt and argued about all of them.
- UsedLabel a dish gourmet only if the produce and the care behind it deserve the word.
- ContrastGourmet, not delicious. Delicious is how it tastes; gourmet is how fine the ingredients and the cooking are. delicious →
- Not thisExpensive is not gourmet. A gourmet meal earns its price with skill, not just a menu.
- SimplyThis is gourmet food. It is very good and very small.
Patterngourmet + noun (meal, restaurant, burger) · gourmet food / cooking · a gourmet (noun)
2nounknowsSomebody who knows and cares about good food.C1
“As a real gourmet, he can tell good olive oil from cheap oil at once.”

gourmet is a standard of fine food.

Remember it

GOUR-MET → 'GOOd — MAY I have more?'

He tastes the sauce slowly, shuts his eyes and says: 'Good. May I have more?' That is the voice of a gourmet — and the t stays silent.

Where it comes from

Old French groumet meant a wine merchant's assistant, and the sense of a connoisseur came from somebody whose job was tasting. English borrowed the servant and promoted him.

Old English
*grōm — male child, boy, youth
Middle English
grom
Old French
groumet — wine broker, valet in charge of wines, servant
Middle French
gourmet
French
gourmet
English, today
gourmet

Built from

grommes · Old French — wine-taster, manservant
grome · Middle English — boy, valet, servant

Borrowed from French gourmet, from Middle French gourmet, from Old French groumet (“wine broker, valet in charge of wines, servant”) from groume, grommes (“wine-taster, manservant”), apparently from Middle English grom, grome (“boy, valet, servant”), from Old English grōm (“male child, boy, youth”), akin to Old English grōwan (“to grow”). Cognate of Spanish grumete and Catalan grumet. More at groom.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of gourmet

1adjectivegourmetOf the finest, most refined cooking quality.C1

“The market sells gourmet cheeses from all over France.”

Said"It's a gourmet burger, apparently, which is why it costs eighteen pounds."
WrittenThe gourmets in the shop bought six kinds of salt and argued about all of them.
UsedLabel a dish gourmet only if the produce and the care behind it deserve the word.
ContrastGourmet, not delicious. Delicious is how it tastes; gourmet is how fine the ingredients and the cooking are. delicious →
Not thisExpensive is not gourmet. A gourmet meal earns its price with skill, not just a menu.
SimplyThis is gourmet food. It is very good and very small.

Patterngourmet + noun (meal, restaurant, burger) · gourmet food / cooking · a gourmet (noun)

2nounknowsSomebody who knows and cares about good food.C1

“As a real gourmet, he can tell good olive oil from cheap oil at once.”

gourmet is a standard of fine food.