meat

The word “meat” means the flesh of an animal used as food. In plain terms, animal flesh eaten as food, or figuratively, the substantial core of something.

“Meat” is pronounced meet (/mit/ in IPA).

Here is “meat” used in a sentence: “She grilled the meat until it was perfectly tender.”

Words with a similar meaning to “meat” include flesh.

“Meat” is a noun.

The word “meat” comes from Old English. From Old English mete, which originally meant "food" in general, not just animal flesh — the narrower sense developed over time.

“Meat” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Meat” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the flesh of an animal used as food.

Flesh is the soft tissue of any body, human or animal. Meat is specifically animal flesh prepared or used as food. All meat is flesh, but flesh only becomes meat in the context of eating. That is why we say meat at the butcher but flesh when describing the body itself.

Meat is often grouped as red meat, such as beef and lamb; white meat, such as chicken and turkey; and game, from wild animals like venison. It can also be sorted by animal, such as pork, poultry, or beef, or by cut, such as breast, loin, or shoulder.

It depends on the context. In everyday cooking, fish is usually treated as a separate category from meat, which is why menus list meat and fish apart. Biologically, fish flesh is animal flesh and so is meat. Some religious traditions also allow fish on days when other meat is avoided.