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cake

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: cakë and çakë

English

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Request for quotations This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes, then please add them!
Particularly: “buttocks sense”
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A slice of cake (1), specifically a slice of a torte.
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A layer cake from which a slice has been removed.

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *kakǭ
Old Norse kakabor.
Middle English cake
English cake

    From Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka (“cake”) (compare Norwegian kake, Icelandic/Swedish kaka, Danish kage), from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ, of disputed origin. Likely a distant cognate with kaak. Perhaps related to cookie, kuchen, and quiche. Doublet of coca (pastry).

    Pronunciation

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    • enPR: kāk, IPA(key): /keɪk/, [ˈk̟ʰeɪ̯k̚]
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Audio (UK):(file)
    • Rhymes: -eɪk

    Noun

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    Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:

    cake (countable and uncountable, plural cakes)

    2. A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing.
      Synonym: gateau
    3. A small mass of baked dough, especially a thin loaf from unleavened dough.
      an oatmeal cake
      a johnnycake
    4. A thin wafer-shaped mass of fried batter; a griddlecake or pancake.
      buckwheat cakes
    5. A block of any various dense materials.
      Synonym: block
      a cake of soap
      a cake of sand
      • 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
        Cakes of rustling ice come rolling down the flood.
    6. (slang) Ellipsis of piece of cake: a trivially easy task or responsibility.
      • 1996, “Ready or Not”, in The Score, performed by Fugees:
        Now that I escape, sleepwalk awake / Those who could relate know the world ain't cake
    7. (slang) Synonym of money.
    8. Ellipsis of have one's cake and eat it too.
      • 2018, The Guardian, "UK's aspirations for post-Brexit trade deal an illusion, says Donald Tusk", Daniel Boffey, Peter Walker, Jennifer Rankin, and Heather Stewart, 23 February 2018
        "It looks like the cake philosophy is still alive." Quote attributed to Donald Tusk.(Can we verify(+) this quotation?)
    9. (slang) Synonym of buttocks, especially a pair that are exceptionally plump or full.
      Since I started doing squats, I've built up some serious cake.
    10. (pyrotechnics) A multishot fireworks assembly comprising several tubes, each with a fireworks effect, lit by a single fuse.
    11. (UK, figurative) Synonym of pie, the whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided into parts.
      • 1979 March 31, Nicholas Henderson, "Britain's Decline: Its Causes and Consequences":
        I am aware of the efforts made to contest the relevance of these statistics... But you cannot get away from the fact that a low gdp means a smaller national cake and that there is less wealth to go round.
    12. (UK, slang, obsolete) A foolish person.
      • 1834, Figaro in London, volume 3, page 195:
        "The Lord Mayor can say tart things," said Hobler to a scavenger. "Yes," replied the dustman, "he does say things that are tart, which is not to be wondered at when we know him to be a regular cake."

    Usage notes

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    • In North America, a biscuit is a small, soft baked bread similar to a scone but not sweet. In some cases, it can be hard (see dog biscuit). In the United Kingdom, a biscuit is a small, crisp or firm, sweet baked good — the sort of thing which in North America is called a cookie. (Less frequently, British speakers refer to crackers as biscuits.) In North America, even small, layered baked sweets like Oreos are referred to as cookies, while in the UK, typically only those biscuits which have chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, or other things baked into them are also called cookies.
    • Throughout the English-speaking world, thin, crispy, salty or savoury baked breads like in this image (saltine crackers) are called crackers, while thin, crispy, sweet baked goods like in this image (Nilla Wafers) and this image (wafer sticks) are wafers.
    • Both the US and the UK distinguish crackers, wafers and cookies/biscuits from cakes: the former are generally hard or crisp and become soft when stale, while the latter is generally soft or moist and becomes hard when stale.

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    From the plural cakes:

    Translations

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    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    See also

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    See also

    Verb

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    Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:

    cake (third-person singular simple present cakes, present participle caking, simple past and past participle caked)

    1. (transitive) Coat (something) with a crust of solid material.
      Synonyms: crust, encrust
      His shoes are caked with mud.
      • 2025 December 26, Stuart Heritage, “Stranger Things season five vol 2 review – the fact that this isn’t unbearable is a miracle”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
        You will remember that Stranger Things was initially conceived as a one-off, and its success forced the Duffer Brothers to cake on endless new lore to keep the engine running.
    2. (transitive) To form into a cake, or mass.
    3. (intransitive) Of blood or other liquid, to dry out and become hard.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    References

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    • (foolish person): John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary

    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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    Albanian

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cake

    1. indefinite dative/ablative singular of cakë

    Verb

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    cake

    1. second-person singular aorist of cak (“undress”)

    Ambonese Malay

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    Etymology

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    Compare to North Moluccan Malay ceké (“to strangle, to choke, to eat (greedily)”).

    Verb

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    cake

    1. (angry register) to eat
      Synonym: makang
      Kalu ale su cake jang bicara lai! ― Do not speak when you're eating!

    References

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    • D. Takaria, C. Pieter (1998), Kamus Bahasa Melayu Ambon-Indonesia‎[2], Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa

    Dutch

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    Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nl

    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English cake. Doublet of kaak.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    cake m (plural cakes, diminutive cakeje n)

    1. pound cake

    Derived terms

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    Fijian

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    Etymology

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    From Proto-Central Pacific *cake, from Proto-Oceanic *sake (“to ascend, to rise up”), from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *sakay, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *sakay, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sakay (“to climb, to rise up”). Sense of “east, eastward” due to prevailing trade winds in Fiji coming from the east and southeast, making eastern directions “upwind, windward”.

    Adverb

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    cake

    1. up, upward (towards a higher place)
      Synonym: (Colo East) colo
      Tovolea mo cake mai na ikabakaba.
      Try to climb up the ladder.
    2. (meteorology) upwind, windward (towards the wind)
      Synonym: (Colo East) colo
      Na waqa e soko cake tiko ni uca.
      The boat is sailing upwind in the rain.
    3. (by extension) east, eastward (towards the east)
      Synonym: (Colo East) colo
      Na nodra koro e toka cake mai Suva.
      Their village is located east of Suva.
    4. forms comparative adjectival phrases: more, -er
      ‎balavu (“tall, long, black”) + ‎cake → ‎balavu cake (“taller, longer, black”)
      ‎dredre (“hard”) + ‎cake → ‎dredre cake (“harder”)
      Sa vinaka cake na draki.
      The weather is better.

    Usage notes

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    When used in the comparative sense, cake follows the adjective it modifies to express comparison, equivalent to the English suffix “-er” or “more”. For expressions of additional quantity (rather than comparison of quality), Fijian uses tale instead:

    • ‎e dua (“one”) + ‎tale → ‎e dua tale (“one more”)
    • ‎eso (“some”) + ‎tale → ‎eso tale (“some more”)

    Derived terms

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    See also

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    • kaiColo (“highlander (of Viti Levu)”)

    References

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    • Gatty, Ronald (2009), “cake”, in Fijian–English Dictionary‎[3], Suva, Fiji: Ronald Gatty, →ISBN, page 39

    French

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    Image
    Un cake au jambon.

    Etymology

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      Borrowed from English cake.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      cake m (plural cakes)

      1. fruitcake (containing rum)
      2. quick bread (a smallish loaf-shaped baked good which may be sweet like an English cake or salty and with bits of meat. See insert)

      Derived terms

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      Descendants

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      Further reading

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      Middle English

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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        From Old Norse kaka, from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ.

        Pronunciation

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        Noun

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        cake (plural cakes)

        1. A cake (any sort of flat doughy food):
          1. (medicine) A cake prepared to cure disease or illness.
          2. (Christianity, rare) A communion wafer.
        2. (rare) A lump, boil, or ball.

        Derived terms

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        Descendants

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        References

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        Spanish

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        Etymology

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        Unadapted borrowing from English cake, from Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka. Doublet of queque.

        Pronunciation

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        Noun

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        cake m (plural cakes)

        1. cake; fruitcake

        Usage notes

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        According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

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        Tocharian B

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        Etymology

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        From Proto-Indo-European *ték(ʷ)os.

        Noun

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        cake ?

        1. river

        References

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        • Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN
        Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=cake&oldid=91429203"