meunière

American  

[muhn-yair, mœ-nyer] / mənˈyɛər, mœˈnyɛr /

adjective

1. (of food, especially fish) dipped in flour, sautéed in butter, and sprinkled with lemon juice and chopped parsley.

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meunière British  

/ mønjɛr, mənˈjɛə /

adjective

1. (of fish) dredged with flour, fried in butter, and served with butter, lemon juice, and parsley

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Etymology

Origin of meunière

1840–50; < French, by ellipsis from à la meunière literally, in the manner of a miller's wife; feminine of meunier miller, Old French molnier < Vulgar Latin *molīnārius, equivalent to Late Latin molīn ( a ) mill ¹ + Latin -ārius -ary ( -eu- from meule millstone or meut earlier inflected form of moudre to grind)

Example Sentences

The main course was a classic dover sole meunière, bathed in nutty brown butter.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

Confit duck legs, sole meunière and blue-chip artwork are all on the menu at Marcel in Sotheby’s Breuer building.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

The welcome outlier in the collection is sole meunière, gently sauteed fish whose sweet flavor is flattered with capers and lemon.

From Washington Post • Feb. 24, 2023

He had plans to meticulously plate his deep-fried meunière with aioli, but he's out of time.

From Salon • Mar. 22, 2022

Broiled fish, or fish meunière, has ice-cold cucumbers sliced as thin as Saratoga chips, with a very highly seasoned French dressing, or a mixture of cucumbers and tomatoes.

From Etiquette by Post, Emily