tablespoon

tablespoon

English

Alternative forms

• table spoon, table-spoon

Etymology

From table +‎ spoon.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈteɪbəlˌspuːn/, [-bɫ̩-]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈteɪbəlˌspun/, [-bɫ̩-]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

tablespoon (plural tablespoons)

1. (Canada, US) A large spoon, used for eating food from a bowl.
   • 1840, John James Audubon, The Birds of America‎, volume 1, page 178:

     Their eggs were deposited on a few bits of straw, and great caution was necessary in attempting to procure them, as the slightest touch crumbled their frail tenement into dust. By means of a tablespoon, I was enabled to procure many of them.

   Synonyms: (Australia, New Zealand, Northern UK) dessertspoon, dessert spoon

2. (Australia, New Zealand, Northern UK) A spoon too large for eating, usually used for cooking or serving.
3. (cooking) A unit of volume, the value of which varies regionally; in the US: three teaspoons or one half fluid ounce or roughly 15 ml; in Britain and Canada: exactly 15 ml; in Russia 18 ml; in Australia: four teaspoons or 20 ml.
   • 1995 May 22, Salad Recipes, New York, page 51,

     Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet until hot and quickly saute the goat-cheese buttons on both sides until brown.

   • 2003, Better Homes and Gardens, Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes‎, page 416:

     In Australia, 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml, and there are 4 teaspoons in the Australian tablespoon.

   • 2006, Tempted: 150 Very Wicked Desserts, Murdoch Books, UK, copyright page,

     If you are using a 15 ml (3 teaspoon) tablespoon, for most recipes the difference will not be noticeable.

   • 2012, James Armstrong, Kellee Hollyman, General, Organic, and Biochemistry: An Applied Approach, Cengage Learning, US, page 27,

     The problem gives us a number of tablespoons of cooking oil and asks us to convert this amount into milliliters. We are also told that one tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, but this is a relationship between two units, not an actual measurement.

   Synonyms: tablespoonful, tbsp, tbs, (apothecaries' notation) f℥ss, (apothecaries' notation) f℥ß

Related terms

• tablespoonful

Translations

a large spoon, used for eating food

Bulgarian: супена лъжица f (supena lǎžica) Catalan: cullera de sopa f Chinese: Cantonese: 湯匙, 汤匙 (tong1 ci4), 湯羹, 汤羹 (tong1 gang1) Mandarin: 大湯匙／大汤匙 (dà tāngchí), 湯匙／汤匙 (zh) (tāngchí) Czech: lžíce (cs) f, polévková lžíce f Danish: spiseske c Dutch: eetlepel (nl) m, soeplepel (nl) m Finnish: ruokalusikka (fi) French: cuillère à soupe (fr) f, grande cuillère (fr) f German: Esslöffel (de) m Greek: κουτάλι (el) n (koutáli), κουτάλι σούπας n (koutáli soúpas) Hebrew: כַּף‎ (he) f Hungarian: evőkanál (hu) Icelandic: matskeið f Irish: spúnóg mhór f Italian: cucchiaio da tavola m Japanese: さじ (ja) (saji), スプーン (ja) (supūn), テーブルスプーン (tēburusupūn) Korean: 큰스푼 (keunseupun) Lithuanian: valgomasis šaukštas m Luxembourgish: Iessläffel m Manx: spein buird m Norwegian: suppeskje m or f Plautdietsch: Ätläpel m Polish: łyżka (pl) f, łyżka stołowa f Portuguese: colher (pt) f, colher de sopa f Russian: столо́вая ло́жка f (stolóvaja lóžka), ло́жка (ru) f (lóžka), супова́я ло́жка f (supovája lóžka) Scottish Gaelic: spàin-bhùird f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ка̀шика f, жли̏ца f, лижка f Roman: kàšika (sh) f, žlȉca (sh) f, ližka f Slovak: lyžica (sk) f Spanish: cuchara de sopa f, cuchara (es) f Turkish: yemek kaşığı (tr) Vietnamese: muỗng canh Volapük: fidaspun (vo) Waray-Waray: kutsara Welsh: llwy fwrdd

Australia: a spoon for cooking

Danish: grydeske c Finnish: keittolusikka (fi) French: louche (fr) f, cuiller à pot (fr) f German: Kochlöffel (de) m Greek: κουτάλα (el) f (koutála) Maori: pune nui

a unit of measure

Bulgarian: супена лъжица f (supena lǎžica) Catalan: cullerada (ca) f Czech: polévková lžíce f, lžíce (cs) f Danish: spiseske c, spiseskefuld c Dutch: eetlepel (nl) m Finnish: ruokalusikallinen, ruokalusikka (fi) French: cuillère à soupe (fr) f German: Esslöffel (de) m Greek: κουταλιά (el) n (koutaliá), κουταλιά της σούπας n (koutaliá tis soúpas) Gujarati: ચમચો m (camco) Icelandic: matskeið f Italian: cucchiaiata (it) f Japanese: 大さじ (ōsaji) Ladino: kucharika f Polish: łyżka (pl) f, łyżka stołowa f Portuguese: colher de sopa f Romanian: lingură (ro) f Russian: столо́вая ло́жка f (stolóvaja lóžka) Scottish Gaelic: spàin-bhùird f Spanish: cucharada (es) f Swedish: matsked (sv) c Thai: ช้อนโต๊ะ (th) (chɔ́ɔn-dtó) Turkish: yemek kaşığı (tr) Welsh: llwy fwrdd

See also

• cutlery
• dessertspoon, dessert spoon
• silverware
• soupspoon, soup spoon
• teaspoon, tea spoon