saucepan

From sauce +‎ pan.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔsˌpæn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔːs.pən/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsoːsˌpɛn/, (dated) /ˈsoːs.pɘn/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sauce‧pan

saucepan (plural saucepans)

1. (countable, cooking) A deep cooking vessel with a long protruding handle and sometimes a lid; used for boiling, stewing and making sauces.

   Coordinate terms: stewer, roasting pan, Dutch oven; cauldron; kettle

Whether a saucepan is a type of pot, a type of pan, or neither, depends on the speaker's taxonomy of cookware. There are three competing ways of drawing distinctions, all widespread: (1) pots and pans are distinguished by their depth and use, in which case a saucepan is actually a pot despite its name, (2) pots and pans are distinguished by type and/or number of handles, in which case a saucepan is in fact a pan, and (3) both vessel depth and handles are distinguishing features, in which case saucepans form a separate third class that is sibling to pots and pans. Scheme (1) is most widespread in the US and US-influenced parts of Canada, whereas (2) is more typical of the UK and Commonwealth countries; (3) does not split as cleanly along these regional lines.

A similar wrinkle in taxonomy is the distinction between saucepans and saucepots; some distinguish the two by handle type as above, whereas others require that a saucepan not have a nonstick cooking surface so that it will retain fond that can be deglazed into a sauce afterwards. In retail, the distinction is almost always by handle type, though this may correlate with surface type.

• → Welsh: sosban

saucepan (third-person singular simple present saucepans, present participle saucepanning, simple past and past participle saucepanned)

1. To cook in a saucepan
2. To hit with a saucepan