bouillabaisse

American  

[bool-yuh-bays, boo-ya-bes] / ˌbul jəˈbeɪs, bu jaˈbɛs /

noun

1. a soup or stew containing several kinds of fish and often shellfish, usually combined with olive oil, tomatoes, and saffron.

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bouillabaisse British  

/ ˌbuːjəˈbɛs /

noun

1. a rich stew or soup of fish and vegetables flavoured with spices, esp saffron

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Etymology

Origin of bouillabaisse

1850–55; < French < Provençal boui-abaisso, taken as either “boil it, then lower the heat,” or “when it boils, lower the heat”; boui 2nd-person singular imperative or 3rd-person singular present of bouie to boil ¹; abaisso 2nd-person singular imperative of abaissa to lower; see abase

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Explanation

Bouillabaisse is a rich French stew that's full of fish and shellfish and flavored with saffron. Bouillabaisse is made with tomatoes and other vegetables, but the emphasis is on the seafood. Traditionally, cooks made bouillabaisse using fish and shellfish that were accidentally pulled up in fishermen's nets, including bony rockfish and mussels. They served the seafood and vegetables separately from the broth. It's sometimes still presented this way, along with grilled slices of bread rubbed in garlic and herbs. Bouillabaisse is from the Provençal verbs bolhir, "to boil," and abaissar, "to simmer."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bouillabaisse

Imagine your hostess saying she spent 10 hours making your bouillabaisse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

"Une grande bouillabaisse," a friend who was monitoring the elections described it - "a big electoral stew".

From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2024

It's their version of bouillabaisse, but a bit different.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2023

Presented as a coral-reef explosion of color and aquatic wildlife that almost approaches the original’s surreal, kaleidoscopic grandeur, it’s a bouillabaisse that Busby Berkeley would be proud of.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2023

He learns to love the food she and her parents eat, the polenta and risotto, the bouillabaisse and osso buco, the meat baked in parchment paper.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

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