Primary
''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.5Noun
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.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Link to original Footnotes
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: ↩
1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 167: ↩
2021, Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club , Dutton Books for Young Readers, page 74: ↩
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]: ↩
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: ↩
Secondary
• • •