What does kitchen mean?
Kitchen is the ordinary English word for a room or designated area where food is prepared and cooked. In a home, it usually contains practical features such as worktops, cupboards, a sink, and an oven; in a restaurant, institutional dining hall, or ship, it may be a specialized cooking space. The term can also refer collectively to the facilities and staff responsible for food production. Although British and American English use it in essentially the same way, its compounds and idioms often evoke a domestic setting. As a countable noun, it takes the plural kitchens. The word is also linguistically memorable: it entered English through Latin and Greek words connected with cooking. It therefore serves both as a practical label for a familiar room and as a trace of the broad Indo-European vocabulary associated with preparing food.
nounA room or designated area where food and drink are prepared and cooked, especially in a home, restaurant, or institution.
- A room or designated area in a home, restaurant, or institution where food and drink are prepared and cooked.
"Fresh herbs and vegetables filled the kitchen with a warm, savory aroma."
"She chopped fresh herbs on the kitchen counter before starting dinner."
"The hotel's kitchen provides full board and accommodation for visiting students."
Kitchen is a countable noun; use the plural kitchens for multiple rooms or cooking areas.
"The building contains six kitchens serving different departments."
From Greek “to cook” to English “kitchen”: the word traces the place where food is made.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does kitchen come from?
The modern word developed from Old English cycchen, a borrowing of Latin cucina, and is recorded in Middle English. Latin cucina in turn reflects Greek kukein, “to cook.” The same ancestry connects words such as cuisine and culinary, while cook is a Germanic cognate associated with the same wider root.
How kitchen is actually used
This is a neutral, everyday term with no major British–American difference. It can refer specifically to a room or, more broadly, to the cooking facilities of a restaurant or institution.