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grilled cheese

grilled cheese

34 1.0
A hot sandwich with melted cheese between toasted bread
  • noun
  • /ɡrɪld tʃiz/
  • US
translation icon : sándwich de queso
  • The girl ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.
  • grilled cheese sandwich
  • grilled cheese and tomato
  • grilled cheese and soup

It was like Asian inspired grilled cheese with beef in it.

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Examples

  • I was hungry enough to order a grilled cheese sandwich and an order of onion rings.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Franco and I were in the alley eating grilled cheese sandwiches.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Um, I was about to make some grilled cheese for lunch.

  • And I got a grilled cheese for lunch.

  • Do you want a grilled cheese?

  • Well, instead of using two pieces of cheese on your grilled cheese, use one.

  • Yes, can we get 4 grilled cheese sandwiches please?

  • For dinner, they had grilled cheese sandwiches and chili.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • So on deck today, we have a Brie and apple grilled cheese sandwich.

  • I enjoyed a crispy grilled cheese sandwich with a side of pickles for lunch.

Synonyms

sandwich
vsgrilled cheese
800 1.0

Two slices of bread with food like meat or cheese between them for a meal

is a specific hot version with melted cheese and toasted bread

How Filling

panini
4 3.5
grilled cheese
  • US
34 1.0
cheese butty
  • UK
7.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

grilled + cheese

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from 'grilled' (prepared by grilling) + 'cheese' (dairy product): a food item where cheese is grilled, typically a sandwich. This ADJ+NOUN compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows ordinary English word-building, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Grilled cheese comes from the simple idea of cooking cheese between slices of bread until the bread is grilled and the cheese melts. So it means 'a hot sandwich with melted cheese' and is thought of as a warm, simple comfort food.