delicatessen

plural noun

del·​i·​ca·​tes·​sen ˌde-li-kə-ˈte-sᵊn 

1

: ready-to-eat food products (such as cooked meats and prepared salads)

2

singular, plural delicatessens [delicatessen (store)] : a store where delicatessen are sold

Examples of delicatessen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Bakery That Will Blow Away Bread Lovers Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan is one of tef most famous and beloved delicatessens on earth, acclaimed for their stunning sandwiches. —Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025

An employee places an item in the window display at a delicatessen in the Piazza Campo di Fiori in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. —Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 30 Jan. 2025

Morse’s Sauerkraut in Waldoboro is a German-style delicatessen and grocery featuring goods from across Europe. —Jacqueline Dole, Travel + Leisure, 11 Sep. 2024

These special warrants are held by a wide range of organizations, from tailors and hat shops to chocolatiers and delicatessens. —Nicola Butler, Travel + Leisure, 3 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

obsolete German (now Delikatessen), plural of Delicatesse delicacy, from French délicatesse, probably from Old Italian delicatezza, from delicato delicate, from Latin delicatus

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for delicatessen

• cresson
• lessen
• lesson
• vasopressin

Kids Definition

delicatessen

plural noun

del·​i·​ca·​tes·​sen ˌdel-i-kə-ˈtes-ᵊn 

1

: ready-to-eat food products (as cooked meats and prepared salads)

2

singular, plural delicatessens : a store where delicatessen are sold

Etymology

from obsolete German Delicatessen (now spelled Delikatessen) "specially prepared ready-to-eat foods," plural of Delicatesse "delicacy," from French délicatesse (same meaning), derived from Latin delicatus "delicate"

Word Origin

We owe both the word delicatessen and the special food it represents to the German immigrants who came to this country toward the end of the 19th century. But although the food was originally German, the word was not. The Germans borrowed the word from the French. The obsolete German word delicatessen is a plural form of delicatesse and means "delicacies, ready-to-eat foods." This word was borrowed from the French word délicatesse, meaning "delicacy." In English, delicatessen originally meant only the specially-prepared food. In time, the delicatessen store where this food was sold came to be called a delicatessen, and a new meaning for the word was born. Now the word is often shortened to deli.