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duck pâté

duck pâté

8.4
A smooth spread made from duck liver, often served on bread
  • noun
  • /dʌk pæˈteɪ/
: pâté de pato
  • At the party, everyone loved the duck pâté served with assorted crackers.

Examples

  • The chef prepared a rich duck pâté infused with herbs and spices.

  • In the end, they settled for duck pâté and French bread in the kitchen, with a bottle of Beaujolais for Georgy while Vivienne stuck to straight Stoli, having abandoned the ice.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • For dinner, we enjoyed a delicious duck pâté spread on fresh baguette.

Synonyms

foie gras
vsduck pâté
16 9.9

A rich smooth spread made from the liver of a specially fattened goose or duck, served as a luxury

is similar but made from ordinary liver and flavored with herbs
pate de foie gras
vsduck pâté
1 9.9

A rich smooth paste people make from goose liver and eat on bread

is like that but uses a different bird's liver and simpler herb flavors
chicken liver mousse
vsduck pâté
1 5.3

A smooth creamy spread made from chicken liver and served on toast

is richer and uses a larger waterfowl liver with stronger seasoning
pâté
vsduck pâté
1 7.5

A soft, savory spread made from meat, fish or vegetables

is specifically a liver spread often seasoned with herbs and spices

How Rich

foie gras
16 9.9
duck pâté
8.4
cream cheese
47 1.0

Surface Forms

duck pâté singular
duck pâtés plural

Morphology

duck + pâté

The meaning is directly compositional: 'duck' (meat from a duck) combined with 'pâté' (a spreadable meat paste) yields a pâté made from duck. Culinary noun+noun naming is cross-linguistically common and follows transparent composition patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The name duck pâté comes from French and joins duck, the bird, with pâté, which means a soft 'paste' or 'spread' made from liver. So, because it is literally a rich spread made from duck liver, the name means exactly that.