ratatouille

See also: Ratatouille

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French ratatouille, from Occitan ratatolha (ratatouille is a dish originally from Nice, and is also found in Provence), French form from diminutive prefix tat- + touiller (“to stir”), from Latin tudiculō (“grind, mix”), from tudes (“hammer”), from Proto-Indo-European *tud-, from *(s)tewd-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹæt.əˈtuː.i/, /ɹæt.əˈtwiː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːi, -iː

Noun

ratatouille (countable and uncountable, plural ratatouilles)

1. A traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish consisting primarily of tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant.
   • 2025 November 3, Julia Belluz, “The French Secret to Eating Healthy? Prepared Food and Frozen Dinners.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 November 2025:

     I expected the open-air markets, but defrosted bouillabaisse and canned ratatouille weren’t what I imagined to be staples of Parisian culinary life. Yet they’ve become mainstays.

Translations

traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish

• Catalan: ratatolha f
• Dutch: ratatouille (nl) f
• French: ratatouille (fr) f
• German: Ratatouille (de) f or n
• Persian: راتاتوی (râtâtuy)
• Polish: ratatouille (pl) n, ratatuja (pl) f
• Russian: ратату́й (ru) m (ratatúj)
• Spanish: pisto (es) m, ratatouille (es) f
• Swedish: ratatouille (sv)
• Turkish: ratatuy

Verb

ratatouille (third-person singular simple present ratatouilles, present participle ratatouilling, simple past and past participle ratatouilled)

1. To control someone as though they were a puppet.
   • 2025 November 19, Stephen Colbert, “Schumer: Trump 'Can't F*** Around' With Epstein Files Release | Messing With Texas | RFK On DMT”[2], The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS:

     You know that worm in R.F.K. Junior's brain that we all assume has been ratatouilling him around this whole time?

Anagrams

• aural toilet

Dutch

ratatouille
ratatouille

Etymology

Learned borrowing from French ratatouille, from Occitan ratatolha. The French is analysable as a derivative of touiller (“to stir”), from Latin tudiculare (“to grind, to mix”). Doublet of the popular borrowing ratjetoe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /raːtaːˈtujə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ra‧ta‧touil‧le

Noun

ratatouille f (plural ratatouilles, no diminutive)

1. ratatouille: a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish consisting primarily of tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant, with other ingredients

   Synonym: ratjetoe

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Occitan ratatolha (ratatouille is a dish from Nice, in Provence), French form from diminutive prefix tat- + touiller (“to stir”), from Latin tudiculō (“to grind, mix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.ta.tuj/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

ratatouille f (plural ratatouilles)

1. a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish consisting primarily of tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant, with other ingredients
2. (Louisiana) beating, whipping

Descendants

• → Dutch: ratatouille, ratjetoe

Further reading

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

Polish

ratatouille

Alternative forms

• ratatuj

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French ratatouille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ra.taˈtuj/
• Rhymes: -uj
• Syllabification: ra‧ta‧touille

Noun

ratatouille n (indeclinable)

1. ratatouille (traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish consisting primarily of tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant)

   Synonym: ratatuja

Further reading

• ratatouille in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• ratatouille in PWN's encyclopedia

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French ratatouille

Noun

ratatouille c

1. ratatouille

Declension

Declension of ratatouille

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	ratatouille	ratatouilles
	definite	ratatouillen	ratatouillens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

References

• “ratatouille”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “ratatouille”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)