patty

patty — noun

1. a small round piece of meat, fish, or vegetables that is pressed flat and cooked

1.nounB1
Definition

a small round piece of meat, fish, or vegetables that is pressed flat and cooked

Example

Sara shaped the bean mixture into patties for the school fair.

pattern: shape ... into patties

The cook fried two chicken patties for Ben's lunch.

collocation: chicken patty

Common collocations
  • beef patty
  • chicken patty
  • fish patty
  • veggie patty
  • shape into patties
  • frozen patties
Synonyms
  • cake

    used in some food names such as fish cake, but not every patty is called a cake

  • burger

    usually means a sandwich or the meat inside it, so it is less general than patty

  • cutlet

    often suggests a thicker or breaded piece of food

Grammar Patterns

shape ... into patties

fry a patty

serve patties

Usage Note

Usually countable and often named by the main ingredient, as in fish patty or veggie patty. Common with cooking verbs such as shape, fry, bake, and serve.

Common Mistakes

The cafe sells two patty with rice.
The cafe sells two patties with rice.
After a number, use the plural form patties.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For this sense, patty is a broad food word for a small flat round piece made from chopped or mixed ingredients. Burger is narrower and often points to the meat part of a hamburger or to the whole sandwich. Cake appears in some similar food names, such as fish cake, but it is not the normal label for every kind of patty. Cutlet often suggests a thicker piece, and it may be coated with crumbs before cooking. Use patty when the flat shape matters more than the exact recipe. You can say The cook shaped the beef into patties, but The cook shaped the beef into burgers sounds less natural before the bread is added.

patty ↗burger ↗cake ↗cutlet

Common collocations

Nouns

  • beef patty
  • burger patty
  • fish patty
  • veggie patty

Phrases

  • shape into patties
  • fry a patty
  • serve patties with rice

Etymology

FrenchEnglish

Patty came into English from French pate. It first referred to a small pie or pastry, and later English also used it for a small flat piece of prepared food such as meat or vegetables shaped for cooking.