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Glite Dictionary
bowtie pasta

bowtie pasta

3.2
A type of pasta shaped like a small bow tie that holds sauce well
  • noun
  • /ˈbaʊtaɪ ˈpɑːstə/
translation icon : pasta farfalle
  • The recipe called for sautéed vegetables mixed with bowtie pasta and a light cream sauce.
  • 1 cup of bowtie pasta

Examples

  • For dinner, I made a delicious salad with bowtie pasta, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese.

  • The chef prefers bowtie pasta because it holds the sauce well.

  • She made a salad using bowtie pasta and fresh vegetables.

  • We bought a box of bowtie pasta for tonight's dinner.

  • I love bowtie pasta with marinara sauce.

  • Have you tried bowtie pasta before?

  • She served a hearty soup with bits of bowtie pasta floating on top.

Synonyms

farfalle
vsbowtie pasta
1 6.3

A pasta shaped like small bows with a pinched middle and wavy edges

is the same pasta but named for a clothing accessory shape

Surface Forms

bowtie pasta singular
bowtie pastas plural

Morphology

bowtie + pasta

The phrase is compositionally built from a shape term and a food class: a pasta that looks like a bow tie. Even if 'bowtie' as one orthographic unit is rare in a learner's dictionary, the combination 'bow' + 'tie' (a small decorative knot) plus 'pasta' makes the referent predictable; shape-based naming for foods is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Bowtie pasta comes from the pasta's shape: the middle is pinched and the sides flare out like a small bow or tie. That simple picture explains the name and also why this pasta 'holds sauce' well.