Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
fines herbes

fines herbes

7.9
A small mix of chopped fresh herbs like parsley and chives used to flavor food
  • noun
  • /fɪnz ˈɜrbz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fines hierbas
  • To make a delicious vinaigrette, mix oil, vinegar, and a touch of fines herbes for added taste.
  • aux fines herbes

Examples

  • France, the southernmost source, contributes cabillaud aux fines herbes.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The omelet fines herbes was divine but they spared every expense on the tea.

    Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

  • Clearly, all these tuber-plus-meat dishes had a family resemblance, but once you began to consider them seriously, they were as different as, say, omelette aux fines herbes is from a Denver sandwich or a frittata.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The chef sprinkled fines herbes on the grilled chicken to enhance its flavor.

  • In French cuisine, fines herbes typically includes parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil for a fresh aroma.

Surface Forms

fines herbes singular
fines herbes plural

Morphology

fines + herbes

Although the phrase is a French culinary loan, its constituents are transparent cognates ('fines' ≈ fine/delicate, 'herbes' ≈ herbs), so a learner who knows both words can plausibly infer it refers to a (fine) mixture of herbs used for flavoring. However, the expression denotes a conventional, culturally specific mixture of particular herbs and culinary usage that is not fully predictable from the parts alone, so it is only partially transparent to learners.

Etymology

Fines herbes comes from French cooking, where cooks used a small mix of fresh, mild herbs to give food a light, fresh taste. The words fines and herbes literally mean 'fine' and 'herbs', so today the name means that small mix of fresh herbs used to flavor dishes.