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)

1. beefsteak (a steak of beef)

Hypernyms

• steak

Derived terms

• défendre son bifteck
• gagner son bifteck

Descendants

• → Albanian: biftek
• → 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.