delicatessen

What it means

1. A shop that sells cooked or prepared foods ready for serving.

In a sentence

I shall have Royal Climax sausages every Tuesday and Saturday. Leave your orders early as there is a demand for these delicious delicatessen. J. W. Galloway.

1902 April 30, “Local and Personal”, in The Chilliwack Progress, 12th year, number 4 (576 overall), Chilliwack, B.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page [5], column 1

Where it comes from

1. Latindelicatus“alluring”
2. Frenchdélicatesse
3. GermanDelikatessen
4. Englishdelicatessen

First attested 1864. From German Delikatessen, plural of Delikatesse (“delicacy, fine food”), at the time also spelled Delicatesse(n), from French délicatesse, from délicat (“fine”), from Latin delicatus (“alluring”). The sense of store is more recent, originating in ellipsis from the common attributive use, as in delicatessen shop, delicatessen store, etc.