Choux

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small, airy pastries made from a dough called pâte à choux, often filled with cream or custard
2. Delicate baked goods created from a light choux dough, typically filled with sweet or savory fillings
3. Pastries made using a soft, fluffy dough that puffs up when baked, commonly filled with creamy or custard centers

Etymology: The name of this pastry comes from a vegetable. "Chou" is French for "cabbage," and the pastry is so called because its rounded, puffed shapes were thought to resemble little cabbages. "Choux" is simply the plural, so "pâte à choux" translates literally as "cabbage paste." The French word itself is a doublet of "caulis," "cole," and "kale," meaning that all four descend from the same Latin ancestor and reached English by different routes. "Kale" and "cole" came into English as ordinary plant names, while "cabbage" and its relatives took a separate path, so one vegetable name ended up with several forms across the language.

Synonyms: choux pastry