caviar

English

Alternative forms

• caviare

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French caviar, from Venetan caviaro (earlier found as Italian caviale), probably by way of Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Classical Persian خَاوْیَار (xāwyār). Doublet of ajvar.

Pronunciation

• (rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.iˌɑɹ/
• (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.iˌɑː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Noun

caviar (countable and uncountable, plural caviars)

1. Roe of the sturgeon or of certain other large fish, considered a delicacy.
2. (figurative) Something whose flavor is too fine for the vulgar taste.

Derived terms

• beluga caviar
• black caviar
• Carolina caviar
• caviarlike
• caviar spoon
• caviar to the general
• cowboy caviar
• gauche caviar
• green caviar
• poor man's caviar
• red caviar
• salmon caviar
• Texas caviar
• Yorkshire caviar

Descendants

• → Korean: 캐비어 (kaebieo)
• → Welsh: cafiâr, cafiar

Translations

roe of the sturgeon or other large fish (black caviar)

• Albanian: havjar (sq) m
• Arabic: كَافْيَار m (kavyār), خِبْيَارِيّ m (ḵibyāriyy) (obsolete)
• Armenian: խավիար (hy) (xaviar)
• Azerbaijani: kürü (az)
• Belarusian: ікра́ f (ikrá), чо́рная ікра́ f (čórnaja ikrá) (black caviar)
• Bulgarian: хайве́р (bg) m (hajvér), че́рен хайве́р m (čéren hajvér) (black caviar), чер хайве́р m (čer hajvér)
• Catalan: caviar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 魚籽醬; 魚子醬 / 鱼籽酱; 鱼子酱 (jyu⁴ zi² zoeng³)

  Mandarin: 魚子醬 / 鱼子酱 (zh) (yúzǐjiàng)

• Czech: kaviár (cs) m
• Danish: kaviar c
• Dutch: kaviaar (nl) m
• Esperanto: kaviaro
• Faroese: styrjurogn n, kaviar n
• Finnish: kaviaari (fi)
• French: caviar (fr) m
• Galician: caviar (gl) m
• Georgian: ხიზილალა (ka) (xizilala)
• German: Kaviar (de) m
• Greek: χαβιάρι (el) n (chaviári)

  Ancient Greek: χαβιάρι (khabiári), χαβιάριον (khabiárion), χαβάρᾱ f (khabárā) (Byzantine)

• Greenlandic: kaviaari
• Hindi: कावीयार (kāvīyār)
• Hungarian: kaviár (hu), ikra (hu)
• Icelandic: kavíar (is) m
• Italian: caviale (it) m
• Japanese: イクラ (ja) (ikura), キャビア (ja) (kyabia)
• Korean: 캐비아 (kaebia), 캐비어 (ko) (kaebieo), 철갑상어알 (cheolgapsang'eoal), 이크라 (ko) (ikeura)
• Latin: chabiarium n (Medieval)
• Macedonian: ка́вијар m (kávijar), и́кра f (íkra)
• Mazanderani: خاویار
• Northern Sami: meađđenmeastu, meađđennjuvddus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kaviar m

  Nynorsk: kaviar m

• Persian: خاویار (fa) (xâvyâr)
• Polish: kawior (pl) m, ikra (pl) f
• Portuguese: caviar (pt) m
• Romanian: caviar (ro) n
• Romansch: caviar m
• Russian: икра́ (ru) f (ikrá), чёрная икра́ f (čórnaja ikrá) (black caviar)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кавијар m, икра f

  Roman: kavijar (sh) m, ikra (sh) f

• Slovak: kaviár m
• Spanish: caviar (es) m
• Swedish: kaviar (sv) c, rysk kaviar c
• Tagalog: bihud
• Thai: คาเวียร์ (kaa-wiia)
• Turkish: havyar (tr)
• Turkmen: işbil
• Ukrainian: кав'я́р m (kavʺjár), чо́рний кав'я́р f (čórnyj kavʺjár) (black caviar)
• Welsh: cafiar m, cafiâr m
• Yiddish: קאַוויאַר m (kavyar)

red caviar — see ikra

See also

• caviar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• malosol

Anagrams

• Air Cav, Avaric, variac

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French caviar, from Italian caviaro or Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Persian خاویار (xâvyâr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kə.βiˈar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kə.viˈar]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ka.viˈar]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ

Noun

caviar m (plural caviars)

1. caviar

Further reading

• “caviar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “caviar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “caviar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian caviaro or Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Persian خاویار (xâvyâr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.vjaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

caviar m (plural caviars)

1. caviar

Derived terms

• cuillère à caviar

Descendants

• → Arabic: كَافِيَار (kāfiyār)
• → Catalan: caviar
• → Danish: kaviar
  • → Greenlandic: kaviaari
• → English: caviar, caviare
  • → Korean: 캐비어 (kaebieo)
  • → Welsh: cafiâr, cafiar
• → Estonian: kaviaro
• → Faroese: kaviar
• → Finnish: kaviaari
• → Galician: caviar
• → Icelandic: kavíar
• → Norwegian Bokmål: kaviar
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: kaviar
• → Polish: kawior
• → Portuguese: caviar
• → Romanian: caviar
• → Romansch: caviar
• → Spanish: caviar
• → Swahili: kaviar

Further reading

• “caviar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French caviar, from Italian caviaro or Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Persian خاویار (xâvyâr).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.viˈaʁ/ [ka.vɪˈah], (faster pronunciation) /kaˈvjaʁ/ [kaˈvjah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.viˈaʁ/ [ka.vɪˈah], (faster pronunciation) /kaˈvjaʁ/ [kaˈvjah]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ka.viˈaɾ/ [ka.vɪˈaɾ], (faster pronunciation) /kaˈvjaɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ka.viˈaʁ/ [ka.vɪˈaχ], (faster pronunciation) /kaˈvjaʁ/ [kaˈvjaχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.viˈaɻ/ [ka.vɪˈaɻ], (faster pronunciation) /kaˈvjaɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kaˈvjaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kaˈvjaɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kaˈbjaɾ/ [kaˈβjaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kaˈvja.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: ca‧vi‧ar

Noun

caviar m (plural caviares)

1. caviar

Derived terms

• come ovo e arrota caviar

Related terms

• ova
• ovo

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French caviar, from Italian caviaro or Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Persian خاویار (xâvyâr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkaviˈar/
• Hyphenation: ca‧vi‧ar

Noun

caviar n (uncountable)

1. caviar

   Synonym: icre negre

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	caviar	caviarul
genitive-dative	caviar	caviarului
vocative	caviarule

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French caviar, from Italian caviaro or Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Persian خاویار (xâvyâr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbjaɾ/ [kaˈβ̞jaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ca‧viar

Noun

caviar m (plural caviares)

1. caviar
2. (Peru) a leftist, specifically one coming from a wealthy background

Further reading

• “caviar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024