tureen

American  

[too-reen, tyoo-] / tʊˈrin, tyʊ- /

noun

1. a large, deep, covered dish for serving soup, stew, or other foods.

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tureen British  

/ təˈriːn /

noun

1. a large deep usually rounded dish with a cover, used for serving soups, stews, etc

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Etymology

Origin of tureen

1700–10; earlier terrene < French terrine earthenware dish, Middle French, feminine of terrin of the earth, earthen < Vulgar Latin *terrīnus, equivalent to Latin terr ( a ) earth + -īnus -ine ¹

Explanation

If a waiter brought a big, deep serving dish to your table, removed its lid, and began ladling soup into your bowl, you could confidently call the dish a tureen. A tureen can be made out of earthenware or porcelain or even silver; the most famous tureen — or at least the most expensive — may have been an 18th-century French model that was auctioned off in 1996 for more than ten million dollars.

Example Sentences

A 10-foot canopy shaded guests, while the addition of a hot water tureen allowed people to make coffee, tea and instant cup noodles.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 26, 2023

This arrived in a big tureen, and gosh, was it good.

From The Guardian • Dec. 8, 2019

The kitchen table was laid with homemade bread, butter, jam, a tureen of dried lamb tallow, and a haunch of fermented lamb.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 11, 2018

I still remember the first gift I bought for my mom with my own money: a white porcelain soup tureen.

From Washington Post • May 7, 2018

But when Felicia returned to Palmas Street with her sacred stones and her tureen, her seashells and the implements of her saint, neither her mother nor her children were there to greet her.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

Related Words

• basin
• dish
• pot
• urn