sweetbread

See also: sweet bread

English

Cooked sweetbread encrusted with chufa

Etymology

Apparently from sweet +‎ bread, though the reason is not immediately evident. Possibly connected with Dutch zwezerik, whose etymology is also unclear.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈswiːtbɹɛd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈswitˌbɹɛd/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sweet‧bread

Noun

sweetbread (plural sweetbreads)

1. The pancreas or thymus gland of an animal, especially a lamb or calf, as food.
   • 1909, Eva Greene Fuller, The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book: 400 Ways to Make a Sandwich, page 97:

     SWEETBREAD SANDWICH: Cook sweetbreads until tender. When cold, remove skin, chop fine, season with salt and pepper, add one cup of finely chopped celery, and a dash of mayonnaise dressing; spread on thin slices of lightly buttered white bread. Cover with another slice and garnish with an olive.

   • 2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 177:

     The pancreas of an animal when cooked for consumption is known as a sweetbread.

Synonyms

• (pancreas): belly sweetbread, gutbread, heart sweetbread, stomach sweetbread
• (thymus gland): gullet sweetbread, neck sweetbread, throat sweetbread

Translations

pancreas or thymus gland of an animal as food

• Bulgarian: момици (bg) f pl (momici)
• Catalan: lletó m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: (thymus) zwezerik (nl) m
• Finnish: haima (fi) (pancreas), kateenkorva (fi) (thymus)
• French: (pancreas/thymus gland of calf/lamb) ris (fr) m
• Galician: molexa f
• German: (from thymus) Bries (de) n, (of calf also) Kalbsmilch f, (Switzerland) Milke f
• Greek: γλυκάδι (el) n (glykádi)

  Ancient: πάγκρεας n (pánkreas)

• Irish: briseán m, briseán milis m, dúlia m
• Italian: (in the plural) animelle f pl
• Japanese: シビレ (shibire)
• Navajo: alohkʼeʼ
• Norman: brie f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brissel (no) m, kalvebrissel m (of calf)

• Persian: خوش‌گوشت (xoš-gušt)
• Polish: trzustka (pl) f, grasica (pl) f
• Portuguese: moleja (pt) f
• Romanian: momiță (ro) f
• Russian: сла́дкое мя́со n (sládkoje mjáso), поджелу́дочная железа́ (ru) f (podželúdočnaja železá) (pancreas)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бризла f

  Roman: brizla (sh) f

• Spanish: molleja (es) f, lechecilla f
• Swedish: kalvbräss c
• Turkish: uykuluk (tr)

References

• “sweetbread”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.