canape
canape Lexical Profile
canape Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A small, prepared and usually decorative food consisting of a piece of bread, puff pastry, or cracker topped with a savory garnish, typically served as an appetizer.
"The servers circulated through the ballroom, offering silver trays filled with smoked salmon and caviar canapes."
A small piece of furniture resembling a sofa or couch, especially an elegant 18th-century French style designed to seat two or three people.
"The antique dealer carefully restored the velvet upholstery on the exquisite Louis XV canape."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often spelled with an acute accent (canapé), this word is sometimes confused with its etymological cousin 'canopy', which refers to an overhead covering rather than an appetizer or sofa.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from French 'canapé' (sofa), derived from Medieval Latin 'canapeum' and Greek 'kōnōpeion' (couch with a mosquito net). The culinary sense arose as a whimsical comparison, because the savory garnish 'sits' on the bread much like a person sits on a sofa.