tapenade

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/ˌtæ.pəˈnɑːd//ˌtɑ.pəˈnɑːd//ˈtɑ.pəˌnɑːd/

noun

A Provençal dish consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil, usually eaten with bread as an hors d'œuvre.

OriginFrench tapenade ← Occitan tapenada ← Old Occitan tapera →
UncommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

nountapenade (countable and uncountable, plural tapenades)

plural tapenades

  1. countableuncountableA Provençal dish consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil, usually eaten with bread as an hors d'œuvre.

Origin

  1. Latincapparis“caper”
  2. Old Occitantapera
  3. Occitantapenada
  4. Frenchtapenade
  5. Englishtapenade

Borrowed from French tapenade, from Provençal and Occitan tapenada, tapenado, a diminutive of tapeno (“caper”), variant of tàpero, from Old Occitan tapera, from Latin capparis (“caper”). Influenced by Old Occitan tapia (“rammed earth”), referring to caper bushes growing against buildings made of rammed earth.

More words from French, Occitan, Old Occitan

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

tapenade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tapenade

MLA

“tapenade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tapenade. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tapenade,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tapenade.

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