menu

American  

[men-yoo] / ˈmɛn ju /

noun

• menus
  plural

1. 1. a list of the dishes that can be ordered in a restaurant or that will be served at a formal meal; bill of fare.

      Ask the waiter for a menu.

   2. the dishes themselves.

      First on the menu was a delicious broccoli soup.

2. any list or set of items, activities, etc., from which to choose.

   What's on the menu this weekend—golf, tennis, swimming?

3. Digital Technology. a list of options available to a user, as displayed on a screen or listed in a recorded telephone greeting.

   From the main menu at the top of the window, select Tools and then Internet Options.

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verb (used with object)

1. to make available for ordering at a restaurant.

   There will be one entrée and one salad menued each day.

   Some casual restaurants have begun menuing alcoholic beverages.

menu British  

/ ˈmɛnjuː /

noun

1. a list of dishes served at a meal or that can be ordered in a restaurant

2. a list of options displayed on a visual display unit from which the operator selects an action to be carried out by positioning the cursor or by depressing the appropriate key

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• menuing
  noun
• menued
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• menus
  plural

Etymology

Origin of menu

First recorded in 1650–60; from French: “detailed list,” noun use of menu “small, detailed,” from Latin minūtus minute ²

Explanation

A menu is a list of the food that's available to order. If your vegan friend doesn't see anything on the restaurant's menu he can eat, you may have to ask the chef to make him something special. A menu is a list of what's available, whether you're talking about a menu at your neighborhood cafe or the menu, or agenda, of things to do at the state fair. When you talk about a menu on your computer, you're also talking about a list — in this case, a list of options or commands on the computer screen. Menu comes from the French phrase menu de repas, "list of what's served at a meal."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

menu menus

The menu featured soybean purée, soybean cheese, soybean bread, soybean coffee and even apple pie baked in a soybean crust.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Brunch has never been on the menu at Chez Panisse in the Bay Area.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Taylor Farms announced a voluntary recall of lettuce sourced from central Mexico, while the US fast-food chain Taco Bell said it has removed lettuce from the supplier from its menu.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

She told me she’d rather everyone just bring what they want to drink and leave the food menu to her.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Miss Mortimer was still fixed on the dessert menu.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Schools will be required to publish food policies and menus online with monitoring arrangements set to be developed alongside the Food Standards Agency, it said.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

By the time federal agencies were still publicly trying to identify the source of the outbreak, the fast-food chain had already started taking food off its menus.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Bottomless mimosas and carb-heavy menus have become barbaric in an ascendant wellness culture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Nerds, Nutter Butters and Sour Patch Kids are turning up in sweet collaborations on restaurant menus.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

They grabbed the menus and crayons from her hand, their eyes wild.

From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss

Related Words

• card
• cuisine
• food
• table