chowder

American  

[chou-der] / ˈtʃaʊ dər /

noun

1. a thick soup or stew made of clams, fish, or vegetables, with potatoes, onions, and other ingredients and seasonings.

---

chowder British  

/ ˈtʃaʊdə /

noun

1. a thick soup or stew containing clams or fish

---

Etymology

Origin of chowder

1735–45, < French chaudière pot, kettle < Late Latin caldāria cauldron

Explanation

Chowder is a thick, chunky soup that often contains fish or shellfish. New England is well known for its creamy, rich version of clam chowder. Chowder is somewhere between a soup and a stew — it's full of chunks of potato and onions, thick with bacon, fish, or vegetables, and sometimes eaten with crackers on the side or crumbled on top. Chowder is one of many words that distinctly originated in America, and it was included in the first edition of Noah Webster's dictionary of American English. Chowder comes from the pot in which it's cooked, chaudière, French for "a pot."

Example Sentences

Chowder is a huge deal all along the Atlantic coast.

From Salon • Aug. 30, 2024

Taylor Blatchford, engagement reporter, investigations: Chowder isn’t something I’d typically seek out at a sporting event, but it was filling comfort food and I’d get it again.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 19, 2022

Her tips were revealed in a roughly 2.5-minute video — Chowder trains in empty parking lots with no easy access to the street and learned how to ride a skateboard on flat areas first.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2021

It would be difficult to convince the seven cousins and siblings who jammed into Jupiter’s Chowder Heads, a New England-style seafood bistro in an all-but-shuttered strip mall Saturday night, that they should leave.

From Washington Post • Sep. 1, 2019

The Chowder King, or whatever he is called, smiled inscrutably.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, August 22, 1917 by Various

Related Words

• bouillon
• porridge
• puree