What does burger mean?
A burger is a dish consisting of a flat, round patty — classically of minced beef, but today also of chicken, fish, vegetables, legumes, or plant-based meat substitutes — cooked and served inside a sliced bread roll, usually with toppings such as lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and condiments. The word originated as a shortened form of 'hamburger', itself borrowed from the German city of Hamburg, and has since become one of the most versatile words in modern food vocabulary: almost any ingredient can be pressed into a patty and prefixed to 'burger'. The term carries strongly informal, casual connotations, evoking fast-food restaurants, barbecues, and diners, and it appears in established compounds like cheeseburger, veggie burger, and burger joint. Ubiquitous across the English-speaking world, 'burger' is both a specific culinary item and a flexible template for countless variations, making it an essential word for describing contemporary eating habits.
nounA flat round patty of minced beef, or of another food such as chicken, vegetables, or a meat substitute, typically served in a sliced bread roll. Also used as a short form of hamburger, the sandwich made with such a patty.
- A cooked patty of ground meat (usually beef) served in a bread bun.
- By extension, any similar patty of non-beef ingredients (chicken, fish, vegetables, plant-based substitutes) served the same way.
- Informally, the whole sandwich itself — short for 'hamburger'.
"She ordered a cheeseburger and a side of fries at the diner."
"He flipped burgers at the roadside diner all summer."
"The menu offers lamb, halloumi, and portobello mushroom burgers alongside the classic beef option."
Standard countable noun; regular -s plural. Often used generically in the plural ('flipping burgers').
"The barbecue ran out of burgers before everyone had eaten."
The word 'burger' comes from Hamburg, Germany — but the sandwich it names was likely invented in America, making it one of the world's most successful culinary misattributions.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of burger
The word derives from 'hamburger', which in turn takes its name from the German city of Hamburg, famous for its minced beef dishes; German immigrants are thought to have brought the concept to the United States in the 19th century, where the sandwich form took shape. By the early 20th century, Americans had clipped the second syllable, producing 'burger' as an independent word. Its productivity is remarkable: the final element '-burger' became a combining form, yielding cheeseburger (attested from the late 1920s), and later veggie burger, chicken burger, and many others. Cognate food terms formed on similar principles include frankfurter and wiener, named after Frankfurt and Vienna.
Word family
Usage notes
Register is informal to neutral; 'burger' appears freely in everyday speech and on menus but is less common in formal writing than 'hamburger' in some contexts. The plural and compound forms are extremely productive: nearly any filling can be turned into a 'X burger'. In British English, 'beefburger' was once promoted as a term to avoid the foreign-sounding 'hamburger', though it never displaced it.
Don't confuse with
Bergamot is a fragrant citrus fruit or herb, unrelated to the food item 'burger', despite superficial similarity in sound.