Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
summer savory

summer savory

6.4
An herb with small leaves and a pleasant smell that you use to add flavor to food
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌmər ˈsævəri/
translation icon : sabor de verano
  • For a fragrant herb blend, mix summer savory with thyme and rosemary in your dish.
  • a sprig of summer savory
  • fresh summer savory
  • summer savory and thyme

And I just went in with my favorite classic summer herb, which is summer savory.

Examples

  • But the summer savory is like the true Bulgarian seasoning herb.

  • The other pieces she put into an iron pot with water, onions, an entire bulb of garlic, five dried red peppers, leaves of sage, and summer savory scrubbed between her palms.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • A sprinkle of summer savory adds a delicious flavor to roasted vegetables.

  • In Mediterranean cuisine, summer savory is often used to enhance the taste of grilled meats.

Synonyms

savory
vssummer savory
  • US
2 7.5

An herb with a spicy taste used in cooking

is the single annual species used specifically as a seasoning in cooking
Satureja hortensis
vssummer savory
  • Specialized
9.9

A small summer herb with oval leaves and pink flowers that gives flavour to meat, soups, and salads

is the culinary herb referred to rather than the taxonomic species name
Satureia hortensis
vssummer savory
  • Specialized
9.5

A small yearly herb with oval leaves and pink flowers that people use to flavor food like soups and stews

is the common cooking name rather than the formal scientific label

Surface Forms

summer savory singular
summer savories plural

Morphology

summer + savory

The phrase names a variety of the herb 'savory'—'summer' functions as a modifier specifying the seasonal/varietal type—so a learner who knows 'savory' (an aromatic herb) and 'summer' can infer it is a kind of herb used in cooking. This noun–noun compounding is transparently compositional and common cross‑linguistically, making the meaning predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Summer savory is the name for a cooking herb. One simple story says people called it summer because it grows and is picked in summer, and savory because it gives a strong 'savory' taste, so the name now means the herb used as a 'seasoning'.