Ramekins

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small, often oven-proof dishes made from glass or ceramic, primarily designed for holding and serving single portions of various cooked foods
2. Individual vessels commonly used in culinary presentations, especially for items such as desserts and baked dishes, crafted from materials like ceramic or glass
3. Small, typically heat-resistant containers designed for baking and serving single portions of various culinary creations made from materials like ceramic or glass

Etymology: The plural here is simply the form of "ramekin," a small dish, so the real story is the word itself. It was borrowed into English from French "ramequin," which in turn came from a dialectal Dutch word, "rammeken," meaning a cheese dish. Dutch also has "rameken," used for toasted bread, and a Low German version, "ramken," meant cream. The shared thread is "ream," an old word for cream, with the diminutive ending "-kin" added, so the name began as a little cream or cheese vessel before it came to mean any small baking dish. The "-kin" ending is a diminutive, the same one found in "mannikin" and in "mannequin," which the source compares it to. A "mannikin" is a little man, and the family resemblance shows how English and French both used this ending to shrink a noun into something small.

Synonyms: dishes, containers, casseroles