Added 8 October 2026
fat
/ˈfæt/ symbol
In Latin: pinguis, obēsus, gurdus Wiktionary
symbol Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about fat at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
adjective
noun
-
A specialized animal tissue with high lipid content, used for long-term storage of energy: fat tissue.
Mammals that hibernate have plenty of fat to keep them warm during the winter.
-
Such tissue as food: the fatty portion of (or trimmings from) meat cuts.
Ask the butcher for a few pounds of fat for our greens.
-
A lipid that is solid at room temperature, which fat tissue contains and which is also found in the blood circulation; sometimes, a refined substance chemically resembling such naturally occurring lipids.
Dietary fat is not the evil that it was once misapprehended to be; carbs are increasingly recognized as a bigger driver of atherosclerosis via chronic insulin resistance and the vascular processes that cascade from it.
verb
Origin
From Middle English fat, from Old English fǣtt (“fatted, fat”), from Proto-West Germanic *faitid (“fatted”), originally the past participle of the verb *faitijan (“to make fat”), from *fait (“fat”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)