Ramequin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small baking dish typically made of porcelain that serves individual food portions in an attractive manner
2. A container often crafted from ceramic intended for oven use, designed to hold one serving of a dish while enhancing presentation
3. A small dish used for baking and serving single portions, usually made of ceramic or porcelain

Etymology: In French, "ramequin" was first the name of a dish, a baked mixture of cheese and bread, and only later came to mean the small dish it was cooked in. English borrowed the word from French, and it kept the same shift: the food gave its name to the vessel, which is what the word refers to today. The origin of the French word itself is uncertain, and etymologists have not settled on a convincing source. What is clear is that the word passed into English as a term for the small, individual dish used for baking and serving single portions, often of porcelain or earthenware, and the food it once named has largely dropped out of the picture.