pho

American

[fuh] / fʌ /

noun

a N Vietnamese soup made of beef or chicken stock with rice noodles and thin slices of beef or chicken.

pho British

/ fəʊ /

noun

a Vietnamese noodle soup

"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

Etymology

Origin of pho

Perhaps from French (pot-au-)feu pot-au-feu

Explanation

Pho is a delicious Vietnamese noodle soup. In Vietnam, it's common to eat a bowl of pho for breakfast. Traditionally, pho is made with beef broth and rice noodles, and topped with slices of beef and herbs. There are also chicken, tofu, and vegetable versions of this iconic Vietnamese soup, all of them warm and aromatic. Pho was invented in the early 1900s in the northern part of Vietnam, with a name most likely influenced by French colonizers — the Vietnamese phở probably derives from feu, or "fire."

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023