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duck pâté

duck pâté

1 8.4
A smooth spread made from duck liver, often served on bread
  • noun
  • /dʌk pæˈteɪ/
translation icon : 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
17 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
pâté
vsduck pâté
12 7.5

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

is specifically a liver spread often seasoned with herbs and spices
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
pate de foie gras
vsduck pâté
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

How Rich

foie gras
17 9.9
duck pâté
1 8.4
cream cheese
40 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.