ratatouille

R1A1T1A1T1O1U1I1L1L1E1
/ɹæt.əˈtuː.i//ɹæt.əˈtwiː/

noun

A traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish consisting primarily of tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant.

OriginFrench ratatouille ← Occitan ratatolha ← Latin tudiculō →
UncommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

nounratatouille (countable and uncountable, plural ratatouilles)

plural ratatouilles

  1. countableuncountableA traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish consisting primarily of tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant.

    I expected the open-air markets, but defrosted bouillabaisse and canned ratatouille weren’t what I imagined to be staples of Parisian culinary life. Yet they’ve become mainstays.

    2025 November 3, Julia Belluz, “The French Secret to Eating Healthy? Prepared Food and Frozen Dinners.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2025
verbratatouille (third-person singular simple present ratatouilles, present participle ratatouilling, simple past and past participle ratatouilled)

present singular third person ratatouilles · participle present ratatouilling · participle past ratatouilled · past ratatouilled

  1. To control someone as though they were a puppet.

    You know that worm in R.F.K. Junior's brain that we all assume has been ratatouilling him around this whole time?

    2025 November 19, Stephen Colbert, “Schumer: Trump 'Can't F*** Around' With Epstein Files Release | Messing With Texas | RFK On DMT”https://youtu.be/kYtTzp683N8?t=454s, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*tud-
  2. Latintudiculō“grind, mix”
  3. Occitanratatolha
  4. Frenchratatouille
  5. Englishratatouille

Unadapted borrowing from French ratatouille, from Occitan ratatolha (ratatouille is a dish originally from Nice, and is also found in Provence), French form from diminutive prefix tat- + touiller (“to stir”), from Latin tudiculō (“grind, mix”), from tudes (“hammer”), from Proto-Indo-European *tud-, from *(s)tewd-.

More words from French, Occitan, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan ratatolha
  • ratatolhatraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Dutch ratatouille
  • ratatouilletraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
French ratatouille
  • ratatouilletraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
German Ratatouille
  • Ratatouilletraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Persian راتاتوی
  • راتاتوی (râtâtuy)traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Polish ratatouille, ratatuja
  • ratatouilletraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
  • ratatujatraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Russian ратату́й
  • ратату́й (ratatúj)traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Spanish pisto
  • pistotraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Swedish ratatouille
  • ratatouilletraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish
Turkish ratatuy
  • ratatuytraditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ratatouille

thebewefreeheseeemerebtdshedepgthreevcdkeyzcommitteeiddegree
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

ratatouille. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratatouille

MLA

“ratatouille.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratatouille. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ratatouille,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratatouille.

Source: ratatouille on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.