taste
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English tasten, borrowed from Old French taster, from assumed Vulgar Latin *tastāre, from assumed Vulgar Latin *taxitāre, a new iterative of Latin taxāre (“to touch sharply”), from tangere (“to touch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-. Almost displaced native Middle English smaken, smakien (“to taste”) (from Old English smacian (“to taste”)), Middle English smecchen (“to taste, smack”) (from Old English smæċċan (“to taste”)) (whence Modern English smack), Middle English buriȝen (“to taste”) (from Old English byrigan, birian (“to taste”)).
Pronunciation
Noun
taste (countable and uncountable, plural tastes)
- One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation.
- He had a strange taste in his mouth.
- Venison has a strong taste.
- The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation.
- His taste was impaired by an illness.
- A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs.
- (countable and uncountable) A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc.
- Dr. Parker has good taste in wine.
- 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.i:
- That's very true indeed Sir Peter! after having married you I should never pretend to Taste again I allow.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess[1]:
- The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
- Personal preference; liking; predilection.
- I have developed a taste for fine wine.
- (figuratively) A small amount of experience with something that gives a sense of its quality as a whole.
- Such anecdotes give one a taste of life on a trauma ward.
- 2007, KT Tunstall (lyrics and music), “Saving My Face”, in Drastic Fantastic[2]:
- I'm all out of luck / I'm all out of faith / I would give everything just for one taste / But everything's here, all out of place […]
- A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.
Synonyms
- (sensation produced by the tongue): smack, smatch; See also Thesaurus:gustation
- (set of preferences): discernment, culture, refinement, style
- (personal preference): See also Thesaurus:predilection
- (small amount of experience): impression, sample, trial
Hyponyms
Meronyms
Derived terms
- acquired taste
- aftertaste
- all of one's taste is in one's mouth
- all one's taste is in one's mouth
- bad taste in one's mouth
- champagne taste on a beer billfold
- champagne taste on a beer budget
- champagne taste on a beer pocketbook
- champagne taste on a beer salary
- champagne taste on a beer wallet
- leave a sour taste in one's mouth
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people
- tastebud
- tasteless
- taste of one's own medicine
- taste of one's own poison
- taste pore
- taste-test
- tasty
- there's no accounting for taste
- to one's taste
- to taste
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Verb
taste (third-person singular simple present tastes, present participle tasting, simple past and past participle tasted)
- (transitive) To sample the flavor of something orally.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 2:9:
- when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine
- (intransitive, copulative) To have a taste; to excite a particular sensation by which flavor is distinguished.
- The chicken tasted great, but the milk tasted like garlic.
- (transitive) To identify (a flavor) by sampling something orally.
- I can definitely taste the marzipan in this cake.
- (transitive, figurative) To experience.
- I tasted in her arms the delights of paradise.
- They had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 2:9:
- He […] should taste death for every man.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene ii, page 117, column 1:
- Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
- Thou […] wilt taste / No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitarie.
- 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 4:
- Hopefully, Dux and Julie got to taste some of that good money, because after "No More," there was no more.
- To take sparingly.
- 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Drydentastes%20of%20pleasures%2C%20youth%20devours%22&f=false
- Age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours.
- 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Drydentastes%20of%20pleasures%2C%20youth%20devours%22&f=false
- To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 14:29:
- I tasted a little of this honey.
- (obsolete) To try by the touch; to handle.
- 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC:
- to taste the bow
Synonyms
- (sample the flavor of something): smack, smake; See also Thesaurus:taste
- (have a taste): hint, smack; See also Thesaurus:have taste
Derived terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Further reading
- “taste”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “taste”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “taste”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- "taste" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 313.
Anagrams
Chinese
Etymology
Pronunciation
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: tei1 si2
- Yale: tēi sí
- Cantonese Pinyin: tei1 si2
- Guangdong Romanization: téi1 xi2
- Sinological IPA (key): /tʰei̯⁵⁵ siː³⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Noun
taste
- (Hong Kong Cantonese) taste (preference of a person)
References
Czech
Pronunciation
Verb
taste
Danish
Etymology
From the noun tast.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -astə
Verb
taste (imperative tast, infinitive at taste, present tense taster, past tense tastede, perfect tense har/er tastet)
- To type
Conjugation
Derived terms
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
taste
German
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
taste
- inflection of tasten:
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French tast.
Pronunciation
Noun
taste (uncountable)
- perceived flavor
Descendants
References
- “tā̆st(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
taste (imperative tast, present tense taster, passive tastes, simple past and past participle tasta or tastet, present participle tastende)
- to type (on a computer keyboard or typewriter)
Related terms
References
- “taste” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Serbo-Croatian
Noun
taste (Cyrillic spelling тасте)
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *teh₂g- (touch)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪst
- Rhymes:English/eɪst/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English copulative verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Taste
- Cantonese terms borrowed from English
- Cantonese terms derived from English
- Chinese lemmas
- Cantonese lemmas
- Chinese nouns
- Cantonese nouns
- Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chinese terms written in foreign scripts
- Hong Kong Cantonese
- Czech terms with IPA pronunciation
- Czech non-lemma forms
- Czech verb forms
- Rhymes:Danish/astə
- Danish lemmas
- Danish verbs
- Dutch terms with audio pronunciation
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English uncountable nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål verbs
- Serbo-Croatian non-lemma forms
- Serbo-Croatian noun forms