parfait

From French parfait (“perfect”). Doublet of perfect.

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːfeɪ/, /pɑːˈfeɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹfeɪ/, /pɑɹˈfeɪ/

parfait (plural parfaits)

1. A French parfait (parfait glacé), an iced dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, cream, and flavouring (usually fruit), sometimes with the addition of a liqueur.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 379:

     Brad hesitated, peering at the grid of spun sugar that jutted from his loganberry parfait.

2. An American parfait, a layered dessert often consisting of fruit, ice cream, pastries, whipped topping, etc. and served in a glass, often a parfait glass.
3. (UK) A smooth pâté, usually made from liver and flavoured with liqueurs.

• parfee

Unadapted borrowing from French parfait (“perfect”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑrfeː/, [ˈpɑ̝rfe̞ː]
• Rhymes: -ɑrfeː
• Hyphenation^(key): par‧fait

parfait

1. parfait (dessert)

   Synonym: jäädyke

• “parfait”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

Calque of Latin perfectus based on French par- + fait, inherited from Latin per- and factus respectively.

• IPA^(key): /paʁ.fɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

parfait (feminine parfaite, masculine plural parfaits, feminine plural parfaites)

1. past participle of parfaire

parfait (feminine parfaite, masculine plural parfaits, feminine plural parfaites)

1. perfect (exactly right)

   Antonym: imparfait

   Le déjeuner était parfait.

   The lunch was perfect.

• imparfait
• perfection

parfait m (plural parfaits)

1. (grammar) perfect tense

• plus-que-parfait

• imparfait

• “parfait” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• “parfait”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

parfait m (plural parfaits)

1. (Jersey, grammar) perfect tense

parfait m (oblique and nominative feminine singular parfaite)

1. perfect (faultless; without imperfection)

• → Middle English: parfit
  • English: parfit
• French: parfait
  • → English: parfait
  • → Finnish: parfait
• Norman: parfait

parfait c

1. parfait (dessert)

• parfait in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• parfait in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• parfait in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)