What does fillet mean?
A fillet is most familiar as a tender, boneless cut of meat or fish — a salmon fillet on the grill, a fillet steak at a restaurant — prized because it can be eaten without navigating around bones. The word also has quieter technical lives: in engineering and construction, a fillet is a concave strip of material smoothing the junction between two surfaces, as in a fillet weld, and in architecture or bookbinding it denotes a narrow decorative band. As a verb, to fillet is to slice the flesh away from the bone, a skill central to professional cooking. English took the word from French 'filet,' a diminutive of 'fil,' meaning thread, so a fillet is etymologically 'a little thread.' Pronunciation varies: British speakers usually rhyme it with 'skillet,' while Americans, particularly in kitchens, may follow the French with a silent final consonant. Its blend of culinary elegance and precise technical meaning makes it a genuinely versatile term.
A boneless cut of meat or fish; also a thin flat strip of material used in construction, welding, or decoration.
"He grilled a fillet of cod for dinner."
In culinary contexts, 'fillet' signals premium quality, especially for beef (fillet steak) and fish.
To remove the bones from a fish or piece of meat, typically by slicing lengthwise along the skeleton.
"She learned to fillet a mackerel in under a minute."
Often pronounced /fɪˈleɪ/ following French convention, particularly in American English.
Standard regular plural; used for multiple cuts of meat or fish, or multiple strips in technical contexts.
"The recipe calls for four chicken fillets."
Same fish, two spellings: order a 'filet' in a fancy restaurant but buy a 'fillet' at the supermarket — and only one gets the silent 't'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fillet
Fillet entered English from Old French 'filet,' a diminutive of 'fil' ('thread'), tracing back through Latin 'filum,' meaning thread. It originally referred to a ribbon or band worn around the head before narrowing toward its modern culinary sense of a boneless cut. The related French borrowing 'filet' persists in fixed phrases such as 'filet mignon.' Cognates sharing the Latin root 'filum' include 'filament' and 'profile.'
Related word forms
How fillet is actually used
In British English, both noun and verb commonly rhyme with 'skillet' (/ˈfɪlɪt/), while American culinary usage often uses the French-style pronunciation (/fɪˈleɪ/) especially for the verb. The spelling 'filet' is retained in borrowed French phrases like 'filet mignon.'
Easily confused with fillet
Filet is the French spelling, typically reserved in English for specific cuts like filet mignon or filet of sole, while fillet is the standard English spelling.