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Glite Dictionary
📏 A measure 🥄 A large spoon
tablespoon

tablespoon

26 1.0
A large spoon used to serve food or measure ingredients
  • noun
  • /ˈteɪbəlˌspuːn/
translation icon : cuchara sopera
  • Brown the flour in one tablespoon of oil and add the seasonings.

And now I'm taking a tablespoon scoop and just taking a tablespoon like this.

Examples

  • Beat the egg and tablespoon of water together to make the glaze.

    Blog text (34)

  • Add an extra tablespoon of butter.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Oh, I use a tablespoon and a half of Real Lemon in the green bottle.

    Blog text (12)

  • Heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil in a wok over high heat.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot.

    Blog text (29)

  • I use 3-4 tablespoons per load, and this works great in hot or cold water!

    Blog text (5)

  • First, heat one tablespoon of butter in a flameproof casserole.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • With an electric mixer, beat the whipping cream, adding sugar one tablespoon at a time, until stiff; set aside.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I used my basic cake recipe but substituted 1 tablespoon of flour for cocoa powder.

    Blog text (15)

  • For the recipe, you will need 2 tablespoons of sugar to enhance the sweetness.

How Big

ladle
18 2.1
tablespoon
26 1.0
teaspoon
33 1.0

Surface Forms

tablespoon singular
tablespoons plural

Morphology

tablespoon = table + spoon (semi-transparent) = table + spoon

The compound clearly names a kind of spoon associated with the table, but the conventional sense 'a large serving spoon' is a lexicalized interpretation not strictly predictable from 'table' + 'spoon'.

Etymology

Tablespoon comes from the two simple words table ('table') and spoon ('a spoon'). It originally named the large spoon used at the dining table to serve food, which is why a tablespoon is a big serving spoon.