junket

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a trip taken by an official at public expense, often as a perk

   Critics blasted the senator's lavish overseas junket.

Simplified etymology

Junket goes back to Latin juncus, “a rush,” and originally meant a rush basket. Cream cheese or sweetened curds were once drained in such baskets, so junket became a name for those foods. Because junkets might be served at a feast, “feast” or “party” arose in the 16th century, followed by “pleasure trip” in the early 19th century. In late-19th-century America it came to mean a trip by government officials paid for with public funds.

From Middle English 'jonket', from Old French 'jonquette' ('a basket of rushes', used for carrying or making cream cheese), from Latin 'iuncus' ('rush, reed'); the sense progressed from a cream dish to a feast to a pleasure trip.

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