mutton

B2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈmʌtən/ UK /ˈmʌt(ə)n/ See IPA manual

Freq #15034

Meanings

1

noun
The meat of an adult sheep, eaten as food.

The curry was made with tender pieces of mutton.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the meat of an adult sheep,... sheepfleshsheepmeat

Word family

Derived forms maconmutton-fistedmutton-thumpermuttonchopmuttonfishmuttongrassmuttonheadmuttonheadedmuttonhoodmuttonishmuttonmongermuttonwood

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

mutton chop
a cut of meat on the bone from an adult sheep

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Mutton entered Middle English from French, though the French word is probably Celtic in origin and related to Scottish Gaelic mult and Welsh mollt. It denotes the meat of a sheep more than a year old.

Etymology

From Middle English motoun, moton, from Old French mouton (“sheep”), from Vulgar Latin moltō, from Gaulish *multon-, from Proto-Celtic *moltos (“ram, wether”). Doublet of mouton.

motoun Middle English mouton Old French moltō la-vul *multon- cel-gau *moltos Proto-Celtic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# mutton

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmʌtən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmʌt(ə)n/
**Frequency rank:** 15034

## Meanings
1. The meat of an adult sheep, eaten as food.

## Examples
- The curry was made with tender pieces of mutton.

## Derived Forms
- macon
- mutton-fisted
- mutton-thumper
- muttonchop
- muttonfish
- muttongrass
- muttonhead
- muttonheaded
- muttonhood
- muttonish
- muttonmonger
- muttonwood

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: motoun
- Root: mouton
- Root: moltō
- Root: *multon-
- Root: *moltos

## Etymology
From Middle English motoun, moton, from Old French mouton (“sheep”), from Vulgar Latin moltō, from Gaulish *multon-, from Proto-Celtic *moltos (“ram, wether”). Doublet of mouton.

## AI Etymology
Mutton comes from Middle English motoun, moton, from Old French mouton (“sheep”), from Vulgar Latin moltō, from Gaulish *multon-, from Proto-Celtic *moltos (“ram, wether”). Doublet of mouton. In present-day English it covers the meat of an adult sheep, eaten as food. The historical chain runs through motoun (Middle English), mouton (Old French), moltō (la-vul), *multon- (cel-gau), and *moltos (Proto-Celtic). Related and derived forms include macon, mutton-fisted, and mutton-thumper.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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