bifteck
French
Alternative forms
- biftèque (post-1990 spelling)
- beefsteak, beefsteck, beefteak, beefteck, biffteck, biftec, bistec, bisteck (all obsolete)
Etymology
18th century, from English beefsteak with the cluster /fst/ reduced to /ft/ (or less often to /st/). The spelling was highly variable up into the 20th century until bifteck established itself, which is phonetic but adds the “un-French” -k, be it as a pseudo-English form or after the related steak (whose spelling remained unaltered).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bif.tɛk/
audio (file)
Noun
bifteck m (plural biftecks)
- beefsteak (a steak of beef)
Hypernyms
- steak
Derived terms
- défendre son bifteck
- gagner son bifteck
Descendants
- → Bulgarian: бифте́к (bifték)
- → Czech: biftek
- → Greek: μπιφτέκι (biftéki)
- → Ladino: biftek
- → Macedonian: бифтек (biftek)
- → Japanese: ビフテキ (bifuteki)
- → Ottoman Turkish: بیفتك (biftek)
- Turkish: biftek
- → Romanian: biftec
- → Vietnamese: bít tết
Further reading
- “bifteck”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.