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Culinary enthusiasts may think "soupçon" originated with a dash of garlic in the coq au vin or a splash of vanilla in the crème anglaise, but the etymology of the word has more to do with inklings and suspicions than with food. Sometime in the 18th century, English speakers borrowed "soupçon" from the French, who were using the word to mean "drop," "touch," or "suspicion." The Old French form of the word was "sospeçon," which in turn comes from the Latin forms suspection- and suspectio. Etymologists have further traced the word's Latin ancestry to the verb suspicere, meaning "to suspect." "Suspicere," as you might expect, is also the source of the English words "suspect" and "suspicion."
Examples of soupçon in a Sentence
Mark Holgate, Vogue, 27 Jan. 2024
Clearly, there’s more than a soupcon of autobiography mixed into this novel.
—Washington Post, 3 May 2022
Winemaker Ben Jordan tweaks the blend to suit each vintage — for the 2020, a soupcon each of chardonnay and pinot gris round out the wine.
—Washington Post, 27 Jan. 2022
The budget plan contains a few soupcons of intrigue as well:
—Patrick May, The Mercury News, 24 May 2017
David Mallamud’s score (with lyrics by Dawkins) is a pastiche of styles and musical-theater in-jokes — a little music hall, a little Kander-and-Ebb with a soupcon of Mozart for the especially quick-eared.
—Dominic P. Papatola, Twin Cities, 12 Feb. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Soupçon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soup%C3%A7on. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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