cake

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English[edit]

A slice of cake (1), specifically a slice of a torte.
A layer cake from which a slice has been removed.

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka (“cake”) (compare Norwegian kake, Icelandic/Swedish kaka, Danish kage), from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ, of disputed origin. Likely a distant cognate with kaak. Perhaps related to cookie, kuchen, and quiche. Doublet of coca.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: kāk, IPA(key): /keɪk/, [ˈk̟ʰeɪ̯k̚]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪk

Noun[edit]

cake (countable and uncountable, plural cakes)

  1. A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing.
    Synonym: gateau
  2. A small mass of baked dough, especially a thin loaf from unleavened dough.
    an oatmeal cake
    a johnnycake
  3. A thin wafer-shaped mass of fried batter; a griddlecake or pancake.
    buckwheat cakes
  4. A block of any of various dense materials.
    Synonym: block
    a cake of soap
    a cake of sand
    • 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
      Cakes of rustling ice come rolling down the flood.
  5. (slang) A trivially easy task or responsibility; from a piece of cake.
    Synonyms: piece of cake; see also Thesaurus:easy thing
  6. (slang) Money.
  7. Used to describe the doctrine of having one's cake and eating it too.
    • 2018, The Guardian, "UK's aspirations for post-Brexit trade deal an illusion, says Donald Tusk", Daniel Boffey, Peter Walker, Jennifer Rankin, and Heather Stewart, 23 February 2018
      "It looks like the cake [and eat it] philosophy is still alive." Quote attributed to Donald Tusk.
  8. (slang) A buttock, especially one that is exceptionally plump.
    Mmm, I'd like to cut me some of that cake!
  9. (pyrotechnics) A multi-shot fireworks assembly comprising several tubes, each with a fireworks effect, lit by a single fuse.

Usage notes[edit]

  • In North America, a biscuit is a small, soft baked bread similar to a scone but not sweet. In some cases, it can be hard (see dog biscuit). In the United Kingdom, a biscuit is a small, crisp or firm, sweet baked good — the sort of thing which in North America is called a cookie. (Less frequently, British speakers refer to crackers as biscuits.) In North America, even small, layered baked sweets like Oreos are referred to as cookies, while in the UK, typically only those biscuits which have chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, or other things baked into them are also called cookies.
  • Throughout the English-speaking world, thin, crispy, salty or savoury baked breads like in this image (saltine crackers) are called crackers, while thin, crispy, sweet baked goods like in this image (Nilla Wafers) and this image (wafer sticks) are wafers.
  • Both the US and the UK distinguish crackers, wafers and cookies/biscuits from cakes: the former are generally hard or crisp and become soft when stale, while the latter is generally soft or moist and becomes hard when stale.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

From the plural cakes:

Translations[edit]

trivially easy task or responsibility — see piece of cake
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also[edit]

See also

Verb[edit]

cake (third-person singular simple present cakes, present participle caking, simple past and past participle caked)

  1. (transitive) Coat (something) with a crust of solid material.
    Synonyms: crust, encrust
    His shoes are caked with mud.
  2. (transitive) To form into a cake, or mass.
  3. (intransitive) Of blood or other liquid, to dry out and become hard.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Ambonese Malay[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unknown.

Verb[edit]

cake

  1. (angry register) to eat
    Synonym: makang
    Kalu ale su cake jang bicara lai! ― Do not speak when you're eating!

References[edit]

  • D. Takaria, C. Pieter (1998) Kamus Bahasa Melayu Ambon-Indonesia‎[1], Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa

Dutch[edit]

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English cake. Doublet of kaak.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

cake m (plural cakes, diminutive cakeje n)

  1. pound cake

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Fijian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Oceanic *sake (compare with Maori eke, Samoan eʻe, Tongan heka), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sakay (“to ride on something”) (compare with Ilocano sakáy (“to ride, to mound”) and Tagalog sakáy (“passenger, load”)).

Adverb[edit]

cake

  1. up

References[edit]

  • Gatty, Ronald (2009) “cake”, in Fijian-English Dictionary, Suva, Fiji: Ronald Gatty, →ISBN, page 39
  • Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “heke”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

French[edit]

Un cake au jambon.

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English cake.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

cake m (plural cakes)

  1. fruitcake (containing rum)
  2. quick bread (a smallish loaf-shaped baked good which may be sweet like an English cake or salty and with bits of meat. See insert)

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse kaka, from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

cake (plural cakes)

  1. A cake (any sort of flat doughy food):
    1. (medicine) A cake prepared to cure disease or illness.
    2. (Christianity, rare) A communion wafer.
  2. (rare) A lump, boil, or ball.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English cake, from Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka. Doublet of queque.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

cake m (plural cakes)

  1. cake; fruitcake

Usage notes[edit]

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Related terms[edit]

Tocharian B[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Indo-European *ték(ʷ)os.

Noun[edit]

cake ?

  1. river

References[edit]

  • Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN
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