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.
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.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.