Word of the Day

: September 11, 2006

réchauffé

noun ray-shoh-FAY

What It Means

1 : rehash

2 : a warmed-over dish of food

réchauffé in Context

"[It] is a réchauffé, . . . lifted and stitched from 'The Gastronomical Me' and other books." (Victoria Glendinning, The New York Times Book Review, June 9, 1991)

Did You Know?

We borrowed "réchauffé" in the early 19th century from the French; it is the past participle of their verb "réchauffer," which means "to reheat." Nineteenth-century French speakers were using it figuratively to designate something that was already old hat-you might say, "warmed over." English speakers adopted that same meaning, which is still our most common. But within decades someone had apparently decided that leftovers would seem more appealing with a French name. The notion caught on. A recipe for "Réchauffé of Beef a la Jardiniere," for example, instructs the cook to reheat "yesterday's piece of meat" in a little water with some tomatoes added, and serve it on a platter with peas and carrots and potatoes. "Réchauffé" shares its root with another English word, "chafing dish," the name of a receptacle for keeping food warm at the table.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.