taste

English Online Dictionary. What means taste‎? What does taste mean?

English

Alternative forms

• tast (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English tasten, borrowed from Old French taster, from assumed Vulgar Latin *tastāre, from assumed Vulgar Latin *taxitāre, a new iterative of Latin taxāre (“to touch sharply”), from tangere (“to touch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-. Almost displaced native Middle English smaken, smakien (“to taste”) (from Old English smacian (“to taste”)), Middle English smecchen (“to taste, smack”) (from Old English smæċċan (“to taste”)) (whence Modern English smack), Middle English buriȝen (“to taste”) (from Old English byrigan, birian (“to taste”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teɪst/
• Rhymes: -eɪst

Noun

taste (countable and uncountable, plural tastes)

1. One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation.

2. The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation.

3. A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs.
4. (countable and uncountable) A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc.
5. Personal preference; liking; predilection.

6. (figuratively) A small amount of experience with something that gives a sense of its quality as a whole.
7. A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.

Synonyms

• (sensation produced by the tongue): smack, smatch; See also Thesaurus:gustation
• (set of preferences): discernment, culture, refinement, style
• (personal preference): See also Thesaurus:predilection
• (small amount of experience): impression, sample, trial

Hyponyms

• (sensation produced by the tongue): relish, savor

Meronyms

• (sensation produced by the tongue): bitter, salty, sour, sweet, umami

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

taste (third-person singular simple present tastes, present participle tasting, simple past and past participle tasted)

1. (transitive) To sample the flavor of something orally.
2. (intransitive, copulative) To have a taste; to excite a particular sensation by which flavor is distinguished.

3. (transitive) To identify (a flavor) by sampling something orally.

4. (transitive, figurative) To experience.
5. To take sparingly.
   • 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Dryden[2]

     Age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours.

6. To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.
7. (obsolete) To try by the touch; to handle.

Synonyms

• (sample the flavor of something): smack, smake; See also Thesaurus:taste
• (have a taste): hint, smack; See also Thesaurus:have taste

Derived terms

• taste blood
• tastes like chicken

Translations

Further reading

• “taste”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “taste”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “taste”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• "taste" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 313.

Etymology 2

Adjective

taste (not comparable)

1. (Internet slang) Deliberate misspelling of tasty.

Anagrams

• Tates, Teats, State, teats, state, Tetas, atest, Testa, testa, aetts, Satet

Chinese

Etymology

From English taste.

Pronunciation

Noun

taste

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) taste (preference of a person)

References

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtastɛ]

Verb

taste

1. second-person plural imperative of tasit

Danish

Etymology

From the noun tast.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -astə

Verb

taste (imperative tast, infinitive at taste, present tense taster, past tense tastede, perfect tense har/er tastet)

1. To type

Conjugation

Derived terms

• indtaste

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

taste

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of tasten

German

Pronunciation

Verb

taste

1. inflection of tasten:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Middle English

Alternative forms

• tast, taist

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French tast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taːst/, /tast/

Noun

taste (uncountable)

1. perceived flavor

Descendants

• English: taste
• Yola: taaste, thaaste, tawest

References

• “tā̆st(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

taste (imperative tast, present tense taster, passive tastes, simple past and past participle tasta or tastet, present participle tastende)

1. to type (on a computer keyboard or typewriter)

Related terms

• tast (noun)
• tastatur

References

• “taste” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

taste (Cyrillic spelling тасте)

1. vocative singular of tast