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Vienna sausage

Vienna sausage

5 3.6
A small thin cooked sausage sold in cans or jars
  • noun
  • /ˈviːənə ˈsɔːsɪdʒ/
translation icon : salchicha vienesa
  • For lunch, I opened a can of Vienna sausage and made a quick sandwich.
  • can of Vienna sausage
  • little Vienna sausage

Examples

  • I had set out some Vienna sausages in a plastic saucer, and beside it a red plastic mixing bowl full of water—both where I knew he'd find them.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Do you like Vienna sausages?

  • When I was a kid 'mumble-mumble' years ago, I loved my Vienna sausages!

    Blog text (22)
  • Prices for imported goods, from Vienna sausages to sweatpants, are high.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Maybe he'd stashed a sack holding a sandwich or a can of Vienna sausage among the pines.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The woman behind her kept putting groceries on the belt: white bread, frozen dinner rolls, a slew of Vienna sausages, potted meat.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • My favorite snack is a plate of crackers topped with Vienna sausage slices.

  • Every picnic we had always included a jar of Vienna sausage as part of the spread.

Synonyms

sausage
vsVienna sausage
184 1.0

A food made from ground meat and spices in a thin skin

is the small precooked canned form rather than the general class
wiener
vsVienna sausage
  • US
69 1.8

A small cooked sausage often served in a bread roll like a hot dog

is packaged precooked in cans as small pieces rather than long ones
frank
vsVienna sausage
  • US
9 3.2

A smooth sausage usually made from beef or pork and eaten in a roll

is sold precooked in cans as short slender pieces, not for rolls
frankfurter
vsVienna sausage
3 2.0

A smooth, smoky sausage of pork or beef often served in a bread roll

is instead a short, slender precooked canned kind not for rolls
wurst
vsVienna sausage
1 5.1

A German sausage made from pork, beef or veal and spices

is a small precooked canned slender product rather than a regional style
wienerwurst
vsVienna sausage
8.8

A thin smoked sausage made from beef or pork often served in a bun

is precooked and canned in short slender pieces, not commonly smoked for rolls

How Processed

Vienna sausage
5 3.6
sausage meat
1 1.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

Vienna + sausage

The phrase simply names a type of sausage associated with Vienna (city) and thus its core meaning — a kind of sausage — is directly derivable from the constituents 'Vienna' and 'sausage'. While finer cultural details (e.g. that it is short, slender, often canned) are not predictable, a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it denotes a sausage variety or style linked to Vienna.

Etymology

Vienna sausage comes from the city of Vienna, where cooks made thin sausages called 'Wiener'. When these small, cooked sausages began to be sold in cans, English speakers called the canned food Vienna sausage, so today the phrase means a short, ready-to-eat sausage sold in jars or cans.