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cheese

n. C / U
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈtʃiz// UK //tʃˈiːz// cheese Archaic General-service Informal Slang Vulgar

n. a solid food made from the milk of cows, goats, or sheep. It comes in many different styles, like soft, hard, or creamy.

n. a food product derived from the pressed curds of milk, typically seasoned and aged.


SIMPLE

I like to put extra cheese on my pizza.

CONTEXTUAL

The waiter offered to grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the pasta dish.

COMPLEX

While some regions are famous for their soft, pungent varieties, others specialise in hard cheeses that are aged for several years to develop a sharper flavour profile.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

Etymology tree Latin cāseusbor. Proto-Germanic *kāsijaz Proto-West Germanic *kāsī Old English ċīese Middle English chese English cheese From Middle English chese, from Anglian Old English ċīese, from Proto-West Germanic *kāsī, borrowed from Latin cāseus. Doublet of queso. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Síes (“cheese”), West Frisian tsiis (“cheese”), Dutch kaas (“cheese”), German Low German Kees (“cheese”), German Käse (“cheese”).

Etymology 2

Perhaps an alteration of cheers.

Etymology 3

Though commonly claimed to be a borrowing of Persian چیز (čiz, “thing”), the term does not occur earliest in Anglo-Indian sources, but instead is "well recorded in British and Australian sources from the 1840s onwards".

Etymology 4

Etymology unknown. Possibly an alteration of cease.

Etymology 5

From cheesy.

Usage

Uncountable when referring to the substance in general; countable when referring to specific types or varieties.

Idioms9 entries

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