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• burger
  burger

  noun

  a hamburger.
• Burger
  Burger

  noun

  Warren Earl, 1907–1995, U.S. jurist: chief justice of the U.S. 1969–86.
• -burger
  -burger

  a combining form extracted from hamburger, occurring in compounds the initial element of which denotes a special garnish for a hamburger or a substitute ingredient for the meat patty.
• Bürger
  Bürger

  noun

  Gottfried August (ˈɡɔtfriːt ˈauɡʊst). 1747–94, German lyric poet, noted particularly for his ballad Lenore (1773)

burger

¹ American  

[bur-ger] / ˈbɜr gər /

noun

burgers plural

1. a hamburger.

2. a food patty, or patty on a bun, containing ingredients other than beef.

   veggie or turkey burgers.

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Burger ² American  

[bur-ger] / ˈbɜr gər /

noun

1. Warren Earl, 1907–1995, U.S. jurist: chief justice of the U.S. 1969–86.

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-burger ³ American  

1. a combining form extracted from hamburger, occurring in compounds the initial element of which denotes a special garnish for a hamburger or a substitute ingredient for the meat patty.

   baconburger; cheeseburger; fishburger.

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burger ¹ British  

/ ˈbɜːɡə /

noun

1. informal

   1. short for hamburger

   2. ( in combination )

      a cheeseburger

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Bürger ² British  

/ ˈbyrɡər /

noun

1. Gottfried August (ˈɡɔtfriːt ˈauɡʊst). 1747–94, German lyric poet, noted particularly for his ballad Lenore (1773)

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Usage

What does -burger mean? The combining form -burger is used like a suffix indicating a kind of hamburger or other patty in a sandwich bun. The form -burger comes from the end of the word hamburger, meaning "a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground beef in a roll or bun." The word hamburger itself comes from a shortening of a dish named Hamburger steak, from the German city of Hamburg.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• burgers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of burger

1935–40, extracted from hamburger by false analysis as ham ¹ + burger

Explanation

A grilled beef patty on a bun is called a burger. Lunch at a fast food restaurant often consists of a burger and fries. You can use the word burger as a casual shorthand for hamburger, which is ground or minced beef that's fried and served on a bun. A burger can also be made of other ingredients, like turkey or tofu or lamb. In fact, if you shape food into a patty, grill it, and put it on a roll or bun, you can call it a burger. The word was first used in 1939, from hamburger.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

burger Burger -burger Bürger burgers

Despite having a burger on the menu called the “California style double,” none of the Kansas-based chain’s 580 stores are in California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

The return of McDonald’s Snack Wrap, along with more value deals, helped the burger chain’s sales rebound.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

If the offer is a burger versus a steak at Capital Grille, it’s not really much of a decision.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

For lunch, forget the burger and fries—or anything greasy, for that matter, Reyez advises.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

We haunted public parks and ice cream shops, burger joints and gas stations.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

“We go, ‘OK, without us ever saying what it meant, can we call it the FTD Burger?’

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Hardin is more amused than annoyed, particularly given the origin of the FTD Burger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

In baseball, curses are no joking matter, and the Curse of the FTD Burger might now have befallen the team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Rival McDonald’s was 160 times more valuable and Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International 30 times as big on Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Burger was confined to a crowded cell with sixty other prisoners.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

The suffix -burger is loaned from hamburger to form cheeseburger or veggie burger - even though a hamburger refers to its origins in Hamburg, Germany, not to a burger made from ham.

From BBC ● May 11, 2013

The kindred genius of Bürger favourably influenced his own mind and tastes, and moved him to make the first known attempt to naturalize the Italian sonnet in Germany.

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by Black, John

It is singular, that this charming ballad should have been translated, or imitated, by the celebrated Bürger, without acknowledgment of the English original.

From Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Volume 2 Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, Collected in The Southern Counties of Scotland; with a Few of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition by Scott, Walter, Sir

To poor Bürger, whose life was just then bitter enough at the best, the review was a terrible blow.

From The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller by Thomas, Calvin

There is no mystery in them, no resort to verbal tricks such as Bürger had employed in Lenore.

From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. in Twenty Volumes by Francke, Kuno

Wordsworth adds that he esteems the genius of Dr. Percy in this kind of writing superior to that of any other modern writer; and that even Bürger had not Percy's fine sensibility.

From A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

She also recommends making your own burgers with vegetables.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Watch out, In-N-Out; another chain is targeting California consumers with its big burgers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

Cafeteria staples like pizza, burgers and chicken fingers will be made with higher-quality ingredients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

This July 4, millions of Americans will fire up their grills and cook plenty of burgers and steaks.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

“Five guys should make the burgers to keep the line moving.”

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas