Wiktionary

gourmand

English

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WOTD – 2 March 2010

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English gourmaunt, gormond, gromonde, from Old French gormant (“a glutton”, noun), from gormant (“gluttonous”, adjective), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɡʊə.mənd/, /ˈɡʊʁmɑ̃/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɡɔɹˈmɑnd/, /ˈɡʊɹ.mɑnd/
  • Rhymes: (US) -ɑnd

Noun

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gourmand (plural gourmands)

  1. A person given to excess in the consumption of food and drink; a greedy or ravenous eater.
    • 1603 (first performance; published 1605), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Seianus his Fall. A Tragœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act I, page 365:
      I knew him, at Caivs trencher, when for hyre, / He proſtituted his abuſed body / To that great gourmond, fat Apicivs;
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 5:
      The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.
  2. A person who appreciates good food.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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French

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Etymology

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From Middle French gourmant (“glutton”), originally an adjectival form, from Old French, where it had the sense of trencherman, but of uncertain ultimate origin.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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gourmand (feminine gourmande, masculine plural gourmands, feminine plural gourmandes)

  1. eating a lot
  2. (more recently) having a love for good food, demanding of food quality

Noun

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gourmand m (plural gourmands, feminine gourmande)

  1. a person who eats a lot, or who has refined tastes in food

Usage notes

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The French and English usages of this word are false friends. While the English word has evolved to emphasize the excesses of a gourmand, the French word has become more associated with refined tastes in food. See also gourmet, which has considerable overlap with this word.

Descendants

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  • → Czech: gurmán
  • → Portuguese: gourmand
  • → Romanian: gurmand

Further reading

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Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French, where it had the sense of trencherman, but of uncertain ultimate origin.

Adjective

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gourmand m

  1. (Jersey) greedy

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French gourmand.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gourmand m or f by sense (plural gourmands)

  1. gourmand (person who appreciates good food)
  2. gourmand (person who eats too much)
    Synonym: comilão

Further reading

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Swedish

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Noun

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gourmand c

  1. someone who enjoys eating a lot of (good) food; a gourmand

Declension

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Declension of gourmand 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative gourmand gourmanden gourmander gourmanderna
Genitive gourmands gourmandens gourmanders gourmandernas

See also

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References

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