What does cruet mean?
A cruet is a small container, typically made of glass, designed to hold a liquid condiment such as oil, vinegar, salad dressing, soy sauce, or lemon juice at the dining table. Cruets are often sold in pairs or as part of a matching set mounted on a metal or wooden stand, known as a cruet set, which became a fixture of formal dining in Britain and America from the eighteenth century onward. In everyday conversation the word leans toward traditional or domestic contexts—dinner tables, hotels, antique shops—and appears frequently in British usage, where salt and pepper shakers are sometimes loosely described as cruets as well. Although largely displaced by individual pourer bottles in contemporary homes, the cruet survives as a staple of formal table settings, church liturgy (where small vessels hold communion wine and water), and collectible tableware, making it a useful word for anyone describing dining customs or furnishings.
nounA small glass bottle used for holding oil, vinegar, or another condiment at the table; also, a framed stand holding such bottles.
- A small glass bottle for oil, vinegar, or other condiments, used at the table.
- A stand or frame holding two or more such bottles.
"She filled the cruet with balsamic vinegar and set it beside the olive oil on the dining table."
"The waiter brought olive oil in a crystal cruet along with the fresh bread."
"An antique silver cruet set stood gleaming at the center of the Victorian dining table."
Standard plural; often refers collectively to a matched set rather than to identical individual bottles.
"The caterers arranged silver cruets at each end of the buffet."
That tiny twin-bottle stand on your grandmother's dinner table has a name most people never learn: it's called a cruet.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cruet
The word "cruet" entered English in the late Middle Ages from Anglo-Norman French "crue" or "cruet," denoting an earthenware pot or jug. Its ultimate source is usually traced to Late Latin "cruca," meaning an earthen vessel, though that Latin word's own deeper origin remains debated. It shares this lineage with the older English word "cruse," likewise a small drinking or storage vessel.
How cruet is actually used
"Cruet" belongs mainly to formal or traditional register; in everyday modern speech people more often say "oil bottle," "vinegar bottle," or simply refer to the "cruet set." The word is common in British household vocabulary and in descriptions of antique tableware.
Easily confused with cruet
A cruet is a small table condiment bottle, while a cruise is a sea voyage or journey taken for pleasure.
Crochet is the craft of making fabric with a hooked needle, whereas a cruet is a small vessel for oil or vinegar.