bifteck

French

Alternative forms

biftèque (post-1990 spelling)
beefsteak
beefsteck, beefteak, beefteck, biffteck, biftec, bistec, bisteck (all obsolete)

Etymology

18th century, from English beefsteak with the cluster /fst/ reduced to /ft/ (or less often to /st/). The spelling was highly variable up into the 20th century until bifteck established itself, which is phonetic but adds the “un-French” -k, be it as a pseudo-English form or after the related steak (whose spelling remained unaltered).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bif.tɛk/
Audio: (file)

Noun

bifteck m (plural biftecks)

beefsteak (a steak of beef)

Hypernyms

steak

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Albanian: biftek
→ Armenian: պիֆթէք (piftʻēkʻ) (Western Armenian)
→ Bulgarian: бифте́к (bifték)
→ Czech: biftek
→ Greek: μπιφτέκι (biftéki)
→ Ladino: biftek
→ Macedonian: бифтек (biftek)
→ Japanese: ビフテキ (bifuteki)
→ Ottoman Turkish: بیفتك (biftek)
- Turkish: biftek
→ Romanian: biftec
→ Vietnamese: bít tết