gourmand

English

WOTD – 2 March 2010

Alternative forms

• gormand

Etymology

From Middle English gourmaunt, gormond, gromonde, from Old French gormant (“a glutton”, noun), from gormant (“gluttonous”, adjective), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡʊə.mənd/, /ˈɡʊʁmɑ̃/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡɔɹˈmɑnd/, /ˈɡʊɹ.mɑnd/
• Rhymes: (US) -ɑnd

Noun

gourmand (plural gourmands)

1. A person given to excess in the consumption of food and drink; a greedy or ravenous eater.
   • 1603 (first performance; published 1605), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Seianus his Fall. A Tragœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act I, page 365:

     I knew him, at Caivs trencher, when for hyre, / He proſtituted his abuſed body / To that great gourmond, fat Apicivs;

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 5:

     The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.

2. A person who appreciates good food.
   • 2000, Endymion Wilkinson, “Agriculture, Food, and the Environment”, in Chinese History: A New Manual‎^[1], Rev. & enl. edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 636:

     The third key was the number of demands from different patrons or groups for their own specialized cuisines. Such patrons included the court, rich households, and scholar-gourmands. Buddhists and Muslims also elaborated their own cuisines (sucai 素菜 and qingzhen 清真).

Synonyms

• (person given to excess consumption): glutton, trencherman, see also Thesaurus:glutton
• (person who appreciates food): chowhound, gastronaut, gourmet
• (person with a special interest or knowledge of food): foodie

Derived terms

• gourmandise
• gourmandism

Translations

person given to excess in the consumption of food and drink

• Armenian: շատակեր (hy) (šataker), որկրամոլ (hy) (orkramol), բկլատ (hy) (bklat) (colloquial)
• Bulgarian: лакомник m (lakomnik)
• Finnish: syömäri (fi), mässäilijä (fi), ahmatti (fi)
• French: glouton (fr) m, goulu (fr) m, goinfre (fr) m or f, boulimique (fr)
• German: Gourmand (de) m, Schlemmer (de) m, Schlemmerin (de) f, Vielfraß (de) m, Völler m
• Greek: φαγάς (el) m (fagás), κοιλιόδουλος (el) m (koiliódoulos)

  Ancient: γαστρίμαργος m (gastrímargos), τένθης m (ténthēs)

• Hungarian: hasimádó (hu)
• Italian: ghiottone (it) m, golosone m
• Latin: helluō m, lurcō m, gluttō m
• Macedonian: лакомец m (lakomec), гурман (gurman)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: storspiser (no) m, fråtser m

• Ottoman Turkish: اوبور (obur), قاشیقجی (kaşıkcı)
• Polish: łakomczuch (pl) m
• Portuguese: gourmand (pt) m or f, comilão (pt) m, glutão (pt) m, guloso (pt) m
• Russian: обжо́ра (ru) m or f (obžóra)
• Spanish: tragaldabas (es), glotón (es), comilón (es), tragón (es), goloso (es) m
• Turkish: obur (tr)
• Ukrainian: ненаже́ра (nenažéra), заже́ра (zažéra), жеру́н (žerún)

person who appreciates good food

• Armenian: համադամասեր (hy) (hamadamaser), գուրման (hy) (gurman)
• Bulgarian: чревоугодник (bg) m (črevougodnik)
• Erzya: плямсиця (pľamśića)
• Finnish: herkuttelija (fi), herkkusuu (fi), gurmandi
• French: gourmet (fr) m, dégustateur (fr) m, gastronome (fr) m or f, gourmand (fr) m, gourmande (fr) f
• German: Feinschmecker (de) m, Feinschmeckerin (de) f, Gourmet (de) m
• Greek: καλοφαγάς (el) m (kalofagás)

  Ancient: ὀψοφάγος m (opsophágos)

• Italian: buongustaio (it) m
• Latin: liguritor m
• Norman: goudalleux m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gourmet m, gastronom m

• Polish: smakosz (pl) m
• Portuguese: gourmand (pt) m or f
• Russian: гурма́н (ru) m (gurmán), гастроно́м (ru) m (gastronóm), ла́комка (ru) m or f (lákomka)
• Spanish: gastrónomo, sibarita (es), gourmet (es), goloso (es) m
• Turkish: gurme (tr)
• Ukrainian: гурма́н (hurmán), ґурма́н (gurmán)

See also

• gourmet

French

Etymology

From Middle French gourmant (“glutton”), originally an adjectival form, from Old French, where it had the sense of trencherman, but of uncertain ultimate origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡuʁ.mɑ̃/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Homophone: gourmands
• Hyphenation: gour‧mand

Adjective

gourmand (feminine gourmande, masculine plural gourmands, feminine plural gourmandes)

1. eating a lot
2. (more recently) having a love for good food, demanding of food quality

Noun

gourmand m (plural gourmands, feminine gourmande)

1. a person who eats a lot, or who has refined tastes in food

Usage notes

The French and English usages of this word are false friends. While the English word has evolved to emphasize the excesses of a gourmand, the French word has become more associated with refined tastes in food. See also gourmet, which has considerable overlap with this word.

Descendants

• → Czech: gurmán
• → Portuguese: gourmand
• → Romanian: gurmand

Further reading

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

Norman

Etymology

From Old French, where it had the sense of trencherman, but of uncertain ultimate origin.

Adjective

gourmand m

1. (Jersey) greedy

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French gourmand.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ɡuʁˈmɐ̃/

Noun

gourmand m or f by sense (plural gourmands)

1. gourmand (person who appreciates good food)
2. gourmand (person who eats too much)

   Synonym: comilão

Further reading

• “gourmand”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Swedish

Noun

gourmand c

1. someone who enjoys eating a lot of (good) food; a gourmand

Declension

Declension of gourmand

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	gourmand	gourmands
	definite	gourmanden	gourmandens
plural	indefinite	gourmander	gourmanders
	definite	gourmanderna	gourmandernas

See also

• frossare (“glutton”)
• gourmet
• matvrak (“a voracious eater”)

References

• gourmand in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• gourmand in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• gourmand in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)