epicure

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person with refined and discriminating tastes, especially in food and wine

   The chef designed the tasting menu for an epicure who valued subtle flavors.

2. 2
   noun

   a person devoted to sensual pleasure; now archaic

   The moralist portrayed the idle courtier as an epicure concerned only with pleasure.

Simplified etymology

Epicure originally meant a follower of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus, whose school regarded restrained pleasure, especially freedom from anxiety and mental pain, as the highest good. The name later acquired associations with habitual pleasure-seeking, and from the 1580s the word came to mean someone particularly interested in fine food.

From Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher. His critics misrepresented his ideal of tranquil, moderate pleasure as sensual indulgence; English epicure first meant a pleasure-seeker and later narrowed to someone with a cultivated palate.

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