À la carte is a
French languageFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
loan phraseA loanword is a word borrowed from one language and incorporated into another.-General:By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept, whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself.The word loanword is itself a calque of the German...
meaning "according to the
menuIn a restaurant, a menu is a printed brochure or public display that shows the list of options for a diner to select. A menu may be a la carte or table d'hôte....
", and used in
restaurantA restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
terminology as:
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À la carte is a
French languageFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
loan phraseA loanword is a word borrowed from one language and incorporated into another.-General:By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept, whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself.The word loanword is itself a calque of the German...
meaning "according to the
menuIn a restaurant, a menu is a printed brochure or public display that shows the list of options for a diner to select. A menu may be a la carte or table d'hôte....
", and used in
restaurantA restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
terminology as:
- A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, rather than selected from a list of preset multi-course meals at fixed prices, in contrast to a table d'hôte
Table d'hôte is a French loan phrase which literally means "host's table". It is used as restaurant terminology to indicate a menu where multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed price. Such a menu may also be called prix fixe . The terms 'set meal' and 'set menu' are...
, at which a menu with limited or no choice is served at a fixed price.
- To designate an option to choose, at no extra charge, a side dish to accompany a main course item.
The phrase was adopted into English in 1826, predating by a decade the common use of the
French languageFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
loanwordA loanword is a word borrowed from one language and incorporated into another.-General:By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept, whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself.The word loanword is itself a calque of the German...
menuIn a restaurant, a menu is a printed brochure or public display that shows the list of options for a diner to select. A menu may be a la carte or table d'hôte....
.