''pate'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260915190735-00-⌔

pate - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

pate (plural pates)

• (somewhat archaic) The head, particularly the top or crown.
  • ✤ He had a shiny, bald pate.
  • ✤ For his vnhappynes ſhall come vpon his owne heade, ⁊ his wickednes ſhall fall vpon his owne pate.¹
  • ✤ The whole benighted, blooming crew,
    The Puddin’-thieves, the Usher too,
    Are being beaten black and blue
    With bottles on the pate.²
  • ✤ He was a middle-aged Caucasian man with a balding pate; the skin on the top of his head was particularly bright and shiny that day.³
• (archaic) Wit, cleverness, cognitive abilities.
  • ✤ I am reſolued, tis but a thee yeeres faſt:
    The minde ſhall banquet, though the body pine,
    Fat paunches haue leane pates: and daynty bits
    Make rich the ribbes, but banerout quite the wits.⁴
  • ✤ I thank thee for that ieſt; heer’s a garment for’t:
    Wit ſhall not goe vn-rewarded while I am King of this
    Country: Steale by line and leuell, is an excellent paſſe
    of pate: there’s another garment for’t.⁵

Noun

pate (plural pates)

• Alternative spelling of pâté (finely-ground paste of meat, fish, etc.)
• The interior body, or non- rind portion of cheese, described by its texture, density, and color.

Etymology 1

From Middle English pate, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortened form of Old French patene or Medieval Latin patena, both from Latin patina (“pan, dish”). Alternatively, perhaps akin to Old Frisian pote (“skull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /peɪt/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
• Rhymes: -eɪt

Etymology 2

Attested since circa 1700, from French pâté, from Old French paste, pastée. Doublet of pâté and patty.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpæt.eɪ/, /pæˈteɪ/
• Rhymes: -æteɪ, -eɪ

Printed 2026-09-15.

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Footnotes

1. 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Psalm vij:[16], folio xiij, recto, column 2: ↩

2. 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 167: ↩

3. 2021, Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club ‎${}^{[1]}$, Dutton Books for Young Readers, page 74: ↩

4. c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h] bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]: ↩

5. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 16, column 1: ↩