delicatessen

• delikatessen

First attested 1864. From German Delikatessen, plural of Delikatesse (“delicacy, fine food”), at the time also spelt Delicatesse(n), from French délicatesse, from délicat (“fine”), from Latin delicatus (“alluring”).

The sense of store is much more recent, originating in ellipsis from the common attributive use, as in delicatessen shop, delicatessen store, etc.

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɛlɪkəˈtɛsən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

delicatessen (plural delicatessens)

1. A shop that sells cooked or prepared foods ready for serving.

• deli

• → Spanish: delicatessen, delicatesen

delicatessen pl (plural only)

1. Delicacies; exotic or expensive foods.
   • 1902 April 30, “Local and Personal”, in The Chilliwack Progress, 12th year, number 4 (576 overall), Chilliwack, B.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page [5], column 1:

     I shall have Royal Climax sausages every Tuesday and Saturday. Leave your orders early as there is a demand for these delicious delicatessen. J. W. Galloway.

   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 53:

     A taxi, after mounting the sidewalk, had finished up with its radiator buried in a pile of delicatessen.

• delicacy

• delicateness

First attested 1642 [1]. Plural of delicatesse (“fine food”), from French délicatesse, from délicat (“fine”), from Latin delicatus (“alluring”).

• Audio:

  (file)

delicatessen

1. delicacies, fine food
2. plural of delicatesse

• lekkernijen

• Chronological dictionary of the Dutch language
• Etymologiebank.nl

• delicatesse

delicatessen f (plural delicatessens)

1. delicatessen (shop selling prepared foods)

• “delicatessen”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Unadapted borrowing from English delicatessen, from German Delikatessen.

• IPA^(key): /delikaˈtesen/ [d̪e.li.kaˈt̪e.sẽn]
• Rhymes: -esen
• Syllabification: de‧li‧ca‧tes‧sen

delicatessen f (plural delicatessens)

1. delicatessen

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• delicatesen

• “delicatessen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025