tasting

The word “tasting” means an organised event where people sample small amounts of food or drink, usually to compare and judge them. In plain terms, trying a small amount of food or drink to check or compare its flavour, often as an organised event.

“Tasting” is pronounced TAYS-tihng (/ˈteɪstɪŋ/ in IPA).

Here is “tasting” used in a sentence: “We booked a tasting at the vineyard to try their new reds.”

Words with a similar meaning to “tasting” include degustation.

“Tasting” is a noun.

The word “tasting” comes from Middle English. From Middle English tastynge, formed from taste plus the -ing ending.

“Tasting” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Tasting” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: an organised event where people sample small amounts of food or drink, usually to compare and judge them.

A tasting is typically an organised event where people sample multiple food or drink items to compare and judge them, often with some formality, such as a wine tasting, while a taste test is usually a simpler, informal comparison of just a couple of options. Both involve sampling food or drink to judge flavour, but "tasting" implies more structure.

A wine tasting is an organised event where participants sample small amounts of different wines specifically to compare and evaluate their flavour and quality, rather than drinking simply for enjoyment. It typically follows a deliberate process of assessing each wine in turn before moving to the next.

Degustation is a more formal synonym for tasting, often used for structured, multi-course tasting menus, and carries a slightly more refined or gourmet connotation than the everyday word "tasting." Both refer to sampling food or drink to judge its flavour.