taste

The word “taste” means the sensation produced when food or drink is detected by the tongue, or the ability to perceive it. In plain terms, what your tongue senses in food, a small sample of something, or a person's style/preferences.

“Taste” is pronounced tayst (/teɪst/ in IPA).

Here is “taste” used in a sentence: “The soup had a rich, salty taste.”

Words with a similar meaning to “taste” include smatch, smake, smack and gust.

Depending on how it is used, “taste” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “taste” comes from Latin. From Old French taster, meaning to touch, feel, or taste, going back to a Latin word meaning to touch sharply — related to "tangent" and "tangible.".

“Taste” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Taste” has 5 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the sensation produced when food or drink is detected by the tongue, or the ability to perceive it.

Taste is limited to what the tongue detects — the basic sensations of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Flavour is the fuller experience, combining taste with smell, texture, and temperature. This is why food seems bland when your nose is blocked: you still taste it, but much of the flavour is lost.

The tongue recognises five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami — the savoury taste found in foods like meat, cheese, and tomatoes. These combine, along with smell and texture, to create the countless flavours we experience. Some scientists argue that a fatty taste may be a sixth.

Yes. Loss of taste, known as ageusia, can be caused by infections, certain medicines, smoking, nerve damage, or ageing. Colds and other illnesses that block the nose often dull taste too, because smell plays such a large part in it. In many cases the sense returns once the underlying cause clears up.