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curd

American  
[kurd] / kɜrd /

noun

  • curds
    plural
  1. Often curds. a substance consisting mainly of casein and the like, obtained from milk by coagulation, and used as food or made into cheese.

  2. any substance resembling this.

  3. Also called curd cheese. Chiefly Northeastern and Southern U.S. cottage cheese.

  4. the edible flower heads of cauliflower, broccoli, and similar plants.


verb (used with or without object)

  1. to turn into curd; coagulate; congeal.

curd British  
/ kɜːd /

noun

  1. (often plural) a substance formed from the coagulation of milk by acid or rennet, used in making cheese or eaten as a food

  2. something similar in consistency

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to turn into or become curd

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Regionalisms

See cottage cheese.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns


Etymology

Origin of curd

1325–75; Middle English curden (v.), variant of crudden to crud, congeal; see crowd 1


Vocabulary lists containing curd

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.

See Examples For:

One of his new compositions, he said, came from a time he had remembered living on Bracken Road in Port Talbot and his mother had made him lemon curd sandwiches.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

The Reserve is more substantial, with flavors of lemon curd, white flowers and toasted nuts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Layers of crisp lemon wafer cookies, lemon zest–spiked whipped cream and a tangy smear of lemon curd between each tier.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2025

He then capitalized on this, reinventing those familiar flavors at Ruse with a watermelon sorbet with lime curd and crunchy chocolate pearls.

From Salon ● May 16, 2024

Ma put her wooden cheese hoop on the board, spread a clean, wet cloth all over the inside of it, and filled it heaping full of the chunks of salted curd.

From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The chain was founded in Wichita, Kan., in 2002 and is known for its burgers, fries, cheese curds and sundaes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

So some producers are making more cheese for its byproduct whey, even if that means selling the leftover curds into a weaker market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

This is not a landscape in which someone strains curds with a square of cheesecloth—we are far from the ingredient kitchen.

From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2025

Depending on the type of cheese made, the cheesemaker will drain the whey and water from the vat, leaving behind the cheese curds.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2024

Halfway there we stopped and ate a meal: boiled rice, dhal, vegetables and curds.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

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