pancake
Americannoun
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a thin, flat cake of batter fried on both sides on a griddle or in a frying pan; griddlecake or flapjack.
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Also called pancake landing. an airplane landing made by pancaking.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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Informal. to flatten, especially as the result of a collision or other mishap.
The car had been pancaked by the bus.
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to cause (an airplane) to pancake.
noun
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a thin flat cake made from batter and fried on both sides, often served rolled and filled with a sweet or savoury mixture
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( as modifier )
pancake mix
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a Scot name for drop scone
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a stick or flat cake of compressed make-up
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Also called: pancake landing. an aircraft landing made by levelling out a few feet from the ground and then dropping onto it
verb
Regionalisms
Pancake, hot cake, griddlecake, and flapjack, with its derived slapjack, are used interchangeably by many people, regardless of whether a pan or griddle is used for cooking, and each term is widely used throughout the U.S. Flannel cake, however, is confined chiefly to the North Midland U.S. and battercake to South Midland and Southern U.S. The following terms have limited regional use and may refer to flat cakes with different recipes or cooking methods: johnnycake, which is used in the Northeastern U.S.; corn cake in the Midland and Southern U.S.; and hoecake in the South Midland and Southern U.S.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pancakesimple
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pancakessimple
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have pancakedperfect
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has pancakedperfect
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am pancakingprogressive
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are pancakingprogressive
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is pancakingprogressive
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have been pancakingperfect progressive
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has been pancakingperfect progressive
Past
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pancakedsimple
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had pancakedperfect
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was pancakingprogressive
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were pancakingprogressive
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had been pancakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pancake
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; see origin at pan 1, cake
Explanation
A pancake is a breakfast dish, a flat cake that's made by pouring batter into a hot pan and frying it on both sides. Many people like to eat their pancakes with a drizzle of maple syrup. While pancakes can be savory, they're more often a sweet breakfast food in the US. Most pancakes begin as a mixture of flour, eggs, milk, and butter, are fried on a greased griddle, and are circular in shape. Pancakes have a long history, stretching as least as far back as ancient Greece, and appear in various forms throughout the world, from savory African injera to the sweet Finnish dessert pancakes known as lettu.
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:
Neighbors hosted pancake breakfasts and spaghetti nights to raise money for lawyers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
Using the pancake model together with values derived from earlier studies, the researchers estimated how many bolides from Earth or Mars could have reached Venus' clouds.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
Its undulating form has earned its share of abuse, and it has been compared to a pancake or an amoeba.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The sign outside adds: "Grab a pancake, then the whole world."
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026
She had a pancake turner in her other hand, so I showed her my palms.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Similarly, packaged pancakes and waffles are filled with sugars and are often ultraprocessed, loaded with harmful additives.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
Flip the pancakes when bubbles start to form on top.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026
They also specialize in Korean seafood pancakes that are so good.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
It's pancakes for Christie, while John Souttar is the barista to McGinn.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
The story goes that one day back in the 1970s, George Finkle accidentally dropped a bowl of peanuts, chocolates, and marshmallows into a frying pan while he was making pancakes.
From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman
The three, adrenaline pumping, clambered through the pancaked wreckage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Driving down the newly paved military road along Gaza's border with Egypt, we pass the shattered remains of the old Rafah border crossing, the roof of one building cracked and pancaked on the ground.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2025
Rescuers stood atop the pancaked floors of one building in Amizmiz, bits of carpet and furniture protruding from the rubble.
From Reuters ● Sep. 9, 2023
Skeletal remains of buildings bowed under roofs that pancaked in the blaze.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
Bending over with great effort, Ignatius stuck a finger into the valve of one of the tires until the hissing stopped and the tire’s bottom pancaked across the brick gutter.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Brandon Baker, Mater Dei, Sr.: He’s leading a Monarchs’ offensive line that is pancaking opponents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2023
It can flatten from the savage forces it experiences as it decelerates in a process called, and I love this, pancaking.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 8, 2023
The 11th overall pick in the draft that year was a pancaking left tackle who looked every bit a potentially dominant building block for the Jets’ offensive line as a rookie.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
There also some alternative fun names for splooting, such as “frogging,” “frog dogging,” pancaking and “superman.”
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2022
And just then a paper bag sailed from a window to my left and burst like a silent grenade, scattering garbage into the trees and pancaking to earth with a soggy, exhausted plop!
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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.
