zest

English

Etymology

French zeste, Greek ζέστη (zesti = warmth).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

zest (countable and uncountable; plural zests)

Wikipedia

1. The outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavouring or garnish.

   The orange zest gives the strong flavors in this dish.

2. (by extension) Enthusiasm; keen enjoyment; relish; gusto.

   Auntie Mame had a real zest for life.

   • Young

     Almighty Vanity! to thee they owe / Their zest of pleasure, and their balm of woe.

   • Gogan

     Liberality of disposition and conduct gives the highest zest and relish to social intercourse.

3. The woody, thick skin enclosing the kernel of a walnut.
   • 2006, N. J. Nusha, On the edge: short stories (page 85)

     The green zest of walnuts was used by the women to shine their teeth and it also gave a beautiful rust colour to their lips.

Related terms

zestful zestfully zesty

Translations

enthusiasm

• Finnish: into (fi), innostus (fi)
• German: Lust (de) f, Freude (de) f, Begeisterung (de) f, Genuss (de) m
• Hebrew: התלהבות, הנאה, חשק
• Hungarian: lelkesedés (hu)

• Italian: entusiasmo (it) m
• Japanese: 熱意 (ja) (netsui)
• Norwegian: entusiasme (no) m, begeistring (no) m
• Portuguese: entusiasmo (pt), gana (pt) f
• Spanish: entusiasmo (es), brío (es) m

outer skin of citrus

• Finnish: sitrushedelmän (ulko)kuori
• German: Würze f (2)
• Hungarian: héj (hu)
• Italian: aroma (it) m

• Norwegian: ytterskall (no) n, zest (no) m
• Russian: цедра (ru) (cedra) f
• Spanish: ralladura f
• Swedish: zest c

Synonyms

• (enthusiasm): gusto
• (outer skin of citrus fruit; general vibrance of flavour): spice, relish, tang

Verb

zest (third-person singular simple present zests, present participle zesting, simple past and past participle zested)

1. (cooking) To scrape the zest from a fruit
2. To make more zesty

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /zɛst/, X-SAMPA: /zEst/

Noun

zest m (plural zests)

1. zest (of a fruit)

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Swedish

Noun

zest c

1. zest; the outer skin of a citrus fruit

Declension

Declension of zest

	uncountable		uncountable
Common	indefinite	definite
nominative	zest	zesten
genitive	zests	zestens