skillet

UK/ˈskɪl.ɪt/US/ˈskɪl.ɪt/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,647 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: skillets

A skillet is a heavy flat pan with sloping sides, good for searing. A cast iron skillet, heat the skillet, a skillet supper.

This is chiefly American; British English says frying pan. A cast iron one is seasoned rather than cleaned with detergent — the polymerised oil is the non-stick surface, and washing it away is the standard mistake. It goes from hob to oven.

Definitions of skillet

1nounskilletA heavy flat pan with sloping sides.B2
“Fry the onions in a cast-iron skillet until they're brown.”
- Said"Get the skillet out; I want a proper crust on this steak."
- WrittenThe cast-iron skillets weighed as much as a small child and outlived three cookers.
- UsedGet the skillet hot enough for water to dance on it before you add the fat.
- ContrastA skillet, not a pan. The same thing under another name, and a skillet is heavy iron that takes fierce heat. pan →
- Not thisA non-stick pan is not a skillet. A skillet is heavy metal and goes in the oven too.
- SimplyThe skillet is heavy. Cook the eggs in it.
Patterna cast-iron skillet · in a skillet · skillet-fried · heat the skillet

skillet is a pan.

Remember it

The Latin is a little dish: a skillet is the heavy flat pan with low sides, a dish that goes straight onto the fire.

hooks ontodish

Where it comes from

Old French escuelette is a diminutive of escuelle, a dish, from Latin scutella, a small tray.

Old French
escuelette
English, today
skillet

Built from

escuelle · Old French — a porringer
scuta · Latin — tray, dish

From Old French escuelette, diminutive of escuelle (“a porringer”), (French écuelle), from Vulgar Latin scutella, diminutive of scutra, scuta (“tray, dish”). Compare scuttle (“basket”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of skillet

1nounskilletA heavy flat pan with sloping sides.B2

“Fry the onions in a cast-iron skillet until they're brown.”

Said"Get the skillet out; I want a proper crust on this steak."
WrittenThe cast-iron skillets weighed as much as a small child and outlived three cookers.
UsedGet the skillet hot enough for water to dance on it before you add the fat.
ContrastA skillet, not a pan. The same thing under another name, and a skillet is heavy iron that takes fierce heat. pan →
Not thisA non-stick pan is not a skillet. A skillet is heavy metal and goes in the oven too.
SimplyThe skillet is heavy. Cook the eggs in it.

Patterna cast-iron skillet · in a skillet · skillet-fried · heat the skillet

skillet is a pan.