Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

vol-au-vent

/ˌvɒl.əʊˈvɑ̃/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.53 in modern English

Syllables: vol-au-vent
IPA: /ˌvɒl.əʊˈvɑ̃/

15

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A small circular piece of puff pastry with a hole for various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit, cheese, etc.

Example Sentences

"Ray Carling: Some nicely chilled Blue Nun and some vol-au-vents? This is Manc the Knife, is it?... Chris Skelton: What's a vol-au-vent?... Ray: It's a puff pastry shell filled with a savory meat mixture... Chris: You mean a pie, then?"
"A few offered to come for me, but they’re all up to their eyes in flans and vols-au-vent and God knows what else, so I told them I’d made my own arrangements."
"Classic bistro fare—including quiche Lorraine and vols-au-vent—make for a light lunch comme il faut."
"Predictably, the result was an immediate surge of panic as the embassy’s guests discarded their vols-au-vent and sought to put as much distance as they could between the outbreak of ‘fire’ and themselves."
"Want to get heads rotating at your next dinner party or drinks get-together? Try tabling the morsel, “has there ever been a worse time to be a middle-aged white man in the world of work?” and watch the vol-au-vents fly."

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French vol-au-vent (“windblown”, literally “flight in the wind”).

Regional Pronunciation

British English: /ˌvɒl.əʊˈvɑ̃/

Inflected Forms

vol-au-vents (plural) vols-au-vent (plural) vol au vent (alternative)

Questions

How do you pronounce vol-au-vent?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌvɒl.əʊˈvɑ̃/.
What does vol-au-vent mean?: A small circular piece of puff pastry with a hole for various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit, cheese, etc.
Where does vol-au-vent come from?: Unadapted borrowing from French vol-au-vent (“windblown”, literally “flight in the wind”).

How to pronounce vol-au-vent

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “vol-au-vent”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌvɒl.əʊˈvɑ̃/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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