What does chou mean?
A chou is a small, round pastry made of light, airy choux dough and typically filled with cream — essentially what English speakers may know as a cream puff or profiterole. The word comes directly from French, where it literally means 'cabbage', because the plump, rounded shape of the pastry suggested a little head of cabbage. In French the same word doubles as a tender term of endearment, so a loved one may be called 'mon petit chou' ('my little cabbage'), a phrase English speakers have adopted playfully. In modern usage, 'chou' appears most often on dessert menus and in baking contexts, frequently paired with its companion term 'choux pastry', the versatile dough behind éclairs, profiteroles, and gougères. Though modest in everyday frequency, the word carries charm: it links the bakery case to the vegetable patch and offers English speakers a ready-made touch of Gallic warmth when addressing someone dear.
nounA small round cream puff or pastry made of choux pastry; also, chiefly in French usage, an affectionate term for a person, literally meaning 'cabbage'.
- A cream puff or small round pastry made of choux pastry.
- (Borrowed from French) A term of endearment, literally meaning 'cabbage'.
"The pâtissier filled each golden chou with vanilla crème pâtissière."
"She ordered a chou filled with pistachio cream and dusted it lightly with icing sugar."
"'Come here, mon petit chou,' she said, beckoning the child to the table."
The plural follows the French pattern: pronounced /ʃuːz/, spelled 'choux', as in 'choux pastry' or 'a tray of golden choux'.
"She arranged a dozen crisp choux on the serving plate and dusted them with sugar."
In French, calling someone your 'little cabbage' (mon petit chou) is one of the sweetest terms of endearment there is — and the same word names the beloved cream puff.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chou
The word 'chou' was borrowed from French, where it means 'cabbage' and has long served both as the name of the vegetable and as a term of endearment. It ultimately derives from Latin 'caulis', meaning stalk or stem, which also gave rise to 'caulis'-related words such as 'cauliflower' and, through Germanic borrowing of the same root, vegetables like kale and kohlrabi. English adopted 'chou' primarily through its culinary use, especially in reference to pastries made from 'choux pastry', whose rounded shape evokes a small cabbage head.
Related word forms
How chou is actually used
In English, 'chou' appears mostly in culinary contexts, often alongside the related phrase 'choux pastry'; the affectionate sense is understood mainly through French and is used playfully or affectingly by English speakers familiar with the language.
Easily confused with chou
Chow means food or a Chinese dog breed, while chou refers to a French pastry (or affectionately, a person) and is pronounced 'shoo' rather than 'chow'.