charcuterie
Americannoun
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cooked, processed, or cured cold meats and meat products, originally and typically pork products, as sausages, pâtés, hams, etc.
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a store where these products are sold.
noun
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cooked cold meats
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a shop selling cooked cold meats
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of charcuterie
1855–60; < French; Middle French chaircuterie, equivalent to chaircut ( ier ) charcutier + -erie -ery
Explanation
Charcuterie is a culinary term for prepared meats like bacon, sausage, salami, and prosciutto. It's also a term for a shop that specializes in them. If you've ever prepared or snacked on a charcuterie board, you probably picture a spread of meats, cheeses, fruit, olives, crackers, and other tasty items. These are often served before a meal or as party hors d'oeuvres. Technically, the word charcuterie refers just to the meat; in French, the word literally means "pork-butcher's shop," from char cuite, "cooked flesh."
Vocabulary lists containing charcuterie
National Spelling Bee '14: Semifinals and Finals
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 20–January 26, 2024
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5th Grade World Cuisine, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Three-and-a-half-thousand hungry Alsatians wolf down platters of charcuterie and periodically burst into noisy chorus.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
Upon entering, we were met by a fleet of vintage Corvettes and a row of charcuterie boards.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026
For lunch, head 12,456 feet up to Il Rifugio, the highest-elevation restaurant in North America, for a board of Colorado-cured charcuterie.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026
The student said he went to her flat on 20 March with a charcuterie selection to bring some "normalcy" to the "bizarre situation".
From BBC • Dec. 8, 2025
The work of the members of the Provisional Government seemed mainly to consist in consuming enormous quantities of charcuterie and washing them down with copious libations of cheap wine.
From An Englishman in Paris Notes and Recollections by Albert D.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
