kitchen

1 of 2

noun (1)

kitch·en ˈki-chən

plural kitchens

: a place (such as a room) with cooking facilities

a house with a large kitchen

—often used before another noun

kitchen cabinets

the kitchen sink

a kitchen knife

see also everything but the kitchen sink

: the people who prepare, cook, and serve food especially in a restaurant, cafeteria, etc.

We ate so eagerly that the kitchen sent out a second round of tostadas.—

Brian Reinhart

: a style of cooking : cuisine

The following recipes illustrate the wide scope of the Indonesian kitchen …—

Copeland Marks

kitchen

2 of 2

noun (2)

African American English

: the hair that grows at the nape of the neck and that can be especially kinky (see kinky sense 1)

I'm a Southern girl who was lucky enough to have a grandmother who was a beautician, and when Grandma Bessie styled our hair, the "edges" and "kitchen" were a top priority; they were just as important as the body of the hair. They had to be carefully pressed to assure the strands were just as straight and smooth as the rest of the hair.—

Chime Edwards

If there ever was one part of our African past that resisted assimilation, it was the kitchen. No matter how hot the iron, no matter how powerful the chemical, no matter how stringent the mashed-potatoes-and-lye formula of a man's "process," neither God nor woman nor Sammy Davis, Jr. could straighten the kitchen. The kitchen was permanent, irredeemable, invincible kink. Unassimilably African.—

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Did you know?

Although a room where food is cooked is called a kitchen, the words cook and kitchen are so different that it is surprising to learn that they both come from the same source. Both words can be traced to the Latin verb coquere, meaning “to cook.” The connection between coquere and cook is easy to see, but kitchen has a more involved history. From the verb coquere came the later Latin noun coquina, meaning “a kitchen.” With some changes in pronunciation, coquina came into Old English as cycene. This became Middle English kichene and finally modern English kitchen.

Examples of kitchen in a Sentence

Noun (1) They want a house with a large kitchen.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Pastry Arts program teaches both the life skills needed to work in a commercial kitchen as well as how to follow a recipe and bake. —

Wendy Grossman Kantor, Peoplemag, 13 Sep. 2023 Over 11,000 meals are prepared each day at American’s catering kitchen, a seven-minute drive on the outskirts of the airport. —

Alexandra Skores, Dallas News, 13 Sep. 2023 On the main level are the living room, kitchen, dining area and three bedroom suites with easy access to decks and flagstone patios overlooking evergreen trees, native plants and pathways through landscaping by LANDLine Design. —

Jeastman, oregonlive, 13 Sep. 2023 Living with a shower in the kitchen doesn’t faze Nikole Naloy, but her Greenwich Village apartment’s sole sink, shared between the kitchen and bath space, has led to some novel habits. —

Jess Eng, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023 Next to us is the studio kitchen, where three bottles of wine sit on the counter. —

Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2023 One of the knobs of the kitchen stove was left slightly on, officials said. —

Talia Lissauer, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2023 Another team is on the way with food trucks and kitchen equipment to make fresh meals. —

Bryan Pietsch, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2023 Another four points was deducted from not having paper towels available at the handwash sink in the men’s bathroom and the inspector noticing a container in the handwashing sink in the kitchen. —

Howard Koplowitz | Hkoplowitz@al.com, al, 1 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kitchen.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English kichene, from Old English cycene, from Late Latin coquina, from Latin coquere to cook — more at cook

Noun (2)

perhaps a figurative use of kitchen entry 1, though the basis for such a comparison is uncertain

Note: Alternatively, a relation with Scots kinch "twist or doubling in a rope" (thus Scottish National Dictionary) has been proposed, though a Scots source would only be probable if the word were attested much earlier.

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1964, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of kitchen was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century

Cite this Entry

Style

“Kitchen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kitchen. Accessed 26 Sep. 2023.

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Kids Definition

kitchen

noun

kitch·en ˈkich-ən

: a place (as a room) in which cooking is done

Etymology

Noun

Middle English kichene "kitchen," from Old English cycene (same meaning), from Latin coquina "a place where food is cooked," from earlier coquere "to cook" — related to cook

Word Origin

Although a room where food is cooked is called a kitchen, the words cook and kitchen are so different that it is surprising to learn that they both come from the same source. Both words can be traced to the Latin verb coquere, meaning "to cook." The connection between coquere and cook is easy to see, but kitchen has a more involved history. From the verb coquere came the later Latin noun coquina, meaning "a kitchen." With some changes in pronunciation, coquina came into Old English as cycene. Further changes over the course of many years gave us kichene and finally the Modern English kitchen.