Chargrilling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Cooking food by exposing it directly to the heat of burning charcoal, often producing a smoky flavor
2. Preparing food by placing it over hot charcoal so that it cooks through radiant heat and gains a charred taste
3. Heating food above glowing charcoal to cook it quickly while adding a distinct smoky and charred aroma

Etymology: Chargrilling is a straightforward compound: "char" joined to "grill," with the verb form adding "-ing." The two halves carry their own histories. "Grill" comes from the French "gril," meaning a gridiron, and English has used it for the cooking rack itself as well as the act of cooking on one. "Char" is older and more obscure, a word for reducing something to charcoal by burning, and it is the source of the scorched, blackened quality that the combined term describes. Put together, the two words describe food cooked over a hot fire until its surface blackens, the charring and the grilling happening at once. The result is a compound whose meaning is simply the sum of its parts, which is why it reads so transparently to anyone who has seen a grill mark on a steak.

Synonyms: grilling, barbecuing