bake

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bake"

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₃g-
Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₃g-
Proto-Germanic *bakaną
Proto-West Germanic *bakan
Old English bacan
Middle English baken
English bake

    From Middle English baken, from Old English bacan (“to bake”), from Proto-West Germanic *bakan, from Proto-Germanic *bakaną (“to bake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₃g- (“to roast, bake”).

    Cognate with West Frisian bakke (“to bake”), Dutch bakken (“to bake”), Low German backen (“to bake”), German backen (“to bake”), Norwegian Bokmål bake (“to bake”), Danish bage (“to bake”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish baka (“to bake”), Ancient Greek φώγω (phṓgō, “roast”, verb).

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    bake (third-person singular simple present bakes, present participle baking, simple past baked or (dialectal) book, past participle baked or (dialectal) book or (dialectal) baken)

    1. To cook using an oven, especially baked goods.
      1. (transitive or intransitive or ditransitive, with person as subject) To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).
        I baked a delicious cherry pie.
        She's been baking all day to prepare for the dinner.
        He baked her a cake.
      2. (intransitive, with baked thing as subject) To be cooked in an oven.
        The cake baked at 350°F.
        • 2026 September 18, Octavio Peña, “A salmon dish as a last hurrah for summer produce”, in San Francisco Chronicle‎[1], archived from the original on 23 September 2026:
          I use cherry tomatoes because they’re bite-size and bake quickly.
      3. (intransitive) To regularly prepare baked goods.
        In some cultures, it is expected that a proper housewife should bake.
      4. (intransitive, slang, figurative) To smoke marijuana.
        (Let's bake tonight.)
      5. (figurative, with "in" or "into") To incorporate into something greater.
        • 2014, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security, Airline Industry Consolidation: Hearing, page 36:
          Disagreements between pilots' unions are baked into the merger cake.
        • 2016, David B. Woolner, John M. Thompson, Progressivism in America: Past, Present and Future, page 100:
          Many of the causes of governmental dysfunction are simply baked into the cake of American politics and will never change.
    2. To heat or dry.
      1. (intransitive) To be warmed for drying and hardening.
        Synonym: fire (pottery in kilns)
        The clay baked in the sun.
      2. (transitive) To dry by heat.
        They baked the electrical parts lightly to remove moisture.
      3. (intransitive, figuratively) To be hot.
        It is baking in the greenhouse.
        I'm baking after that workout in the gym.
      4. (transitive, figuratively) To cause to be hot.
        • 2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 112:
          My dad told me about his days in the Navy: He'd agreed to be a guinea pig in exchange for a shorter enlistment. […] They baked him in the sun.
    3. (transitive, by extension, obsolete) To harden by cold.
    4. (computer graphics, transitive) To fix (lighting, reflections, etc.) as part of the texture of an object to improve rendering performance.

    Usage notes

    In the dialects of northern England, the simple past book and past participle baken are sometimes encountered.

    The incorporate into something greater definition is often by an object that is a metaphorical cake, as in the example given: the causes of governmental dysfunction are simply baked into the cake of American politics. It doesn't have to have such an object though, and the meaning doesn't change: the causes of governmental dysfunction are simply baked into American politics.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Noun

    bake (plural bakes)

    1. The act of cooking food by baking.
      • 2015, Patricia Grace, Chappy, →ISBN:
        Taking one of her cakes or a tray of biscuits from the oven always gives her satisfaction and a moment of pride; that is, of course, unless there happens to be some little element that doesn't please her with the bake.
    2. (especially UK, Australia, New Zealand) Any of various baked dishes resembling casserole.
      • 2009, Dictionary of Food: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z, →ISBN:
        A fish bake made with cod chunks, sliced parboiled potatoes, […]
      • 2009, Rosalind Peters, Kate Pankhurst, Clive Boursnell, Midnight Feast Magic: Sleepover Fun and Food:
        If you happen to have small, heat-proof glass or ceramic pots in your kitchen (known as ramekins) then you can make this very easy pasta bake in fun-size, individual portions.
    3. Any food item that is baked, such as a pastry.
      bake pan
      • 2016, Annie Rigg, Great British Bake Off: Children's Party Cakes & Bakes:
        Baking parchment should not be confused with greaseproof paper — the former has a non-stick coating and will ensure that your bakes lift out of the tin or off the baking sheets easily, the latter will have the opposite effect!
      • 2024 May 24, The Press and Journal, Inverness, page 28, column 2:
        Traditionally made with flour, salt, yeast and a large amount of fat or lard, it is claimed that the beloved bake has fallen out of favour with younger people.
    4. (US) A social event at which food (such as seafood) is baked, or at which baked food is served.
      an oyster bake on the shore
      • 1904, Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology:
        The central episode is the temporary burial of the novitiate; a shallow pit is excavated, and in this a fire is made, as for a fish bake; […]
      • 1939, The American Photo-engraver, volume 31, page 289:
        I am about to launch a scheme for our local to invest a few dollars in a spot where the boys will know where to find company and pass a few hours or a week-end out in the fresh air and partake of shrimp bakes or fish fries and so forget the on-creeping years.
      • 2006, Jeffery P. Sandman, Peter R. Sandman, Soaring and Gliding: The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Area:
        […] also featured a fish bake, a dance, and a beach party[.]
    5. (Barbados, sometimes US and UK) A small, flat (or ball-shaped) cake of dough eaten mainly in Barbados, similar in appearance and ingredients to a pancake but fried (or sometimes roasted).
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:bake.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    See also

    Anagrams

    Basque

    Etymology

    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ-
    Proto-Indo-European *-s
    Proto-Indo-European *péh₂ḱs
    Proto-Italic *pāks
    Latin pācemder.
    Basque bake

      Derived from Latin pācem.

      Pronunciation

      • Audio:(file)
      • IPA(key): /bake/ [ba.ke]
      • Rhymes: -ake, -e
      • Hyphenation: ba‧ke

      Noun

      bake inan

      1. peace
      2. tranquillity, serenity

      Declension

      Declension of bake (inan V-stem)
      indefinite singular plural proximal plural
      absolutive bake bakea bakeak bakeok
      ergative bakek bakeak bakeek bakeok
      dative bakeri bakeari bakeei bakeoi
      genitive bakeren bakearen bakeen bakeon
      comitative bakerekin bakearekin bakeekin bakeokin
      causative bakerengatik bakearengatik bakeengatik bakeongatik
      benefactive bakerentzat bakearentzat bakeentzat bakeontzat
      instrumental bakez bakeaz bakeez bakeotaz
      inessive baketan bakean bakeetan bakeotan
      locative baketako bakeko bakeetako bakeotako
      allative baketara bakera bakeetara bakeotara
      terminative baketaraino bakeraino bakeetaraino bakeotaraino
      directive baketarantz bakerantz bakeetarantz bakeotarantz
      destinative baketarako bakerako bakeetarako bakeotarako
      ablative baketatik baketik bakeetatik bakeotatik
      partitive bakerik — — —
      prolative baketzat — — —

      Derived terms

      • bake-epaile
      • bake-epaitegi
      • bakea eman
      • bakeak egin
      • bakealdi (“times of peace”)
      • bakean
      • bakean joan
      • bakean utzi
      • bakearazi (“to pacify”)
      • bakebide
      • bakegile (“peacemaker”)
      • bakegintza (“pacification”)
      • bakeoso
      • baketi
      • baketiar
      • baketsu (“peaceful, pacifist”)
      • baketu (“to pacify”)
      • baketzaile (“peacemaker”)
      • bakez
      • bakezale (“pacifist”)
      • bakezaletasun (“pacifism”)
      • bakezko
      • bakezkoak egin

      Verb

      bake

      1. short form of baketu (“to pacify”)

      Further reading

      • “bake”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
      • “bake”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

      Middle English

      Etymology 1

      Noun

      bake

      1. alternative form of bakke (“bat”)

      Etymology 2

      Verb

      bake

      1. alternative form of baken (“to bake”)

      Etymology 3

      Noun

      bake

      1. alternative form of baken (“meal involving pastry”)

      Etymology 4

      Noun

      bake

      1. alternative form of bak

      Negeri Sembilan Malay

      Etymology

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

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /bake/ [ba.ke]
      • Rhymes: -e
      • Hyphenation: ba‧ke

      Adjective

      bake

      1. crusted (having or consisting of a crust)
        1. (of grounds or foods) a more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary[1]
          Kue ni bake. ― This kuih is crusted.

      References

      1. ^ “bake”, in Glosari Dialek Negeri Sembilan [Negeri Sembilan Dialect Glossary] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa Pustaka, 2016, →ISBN, page 5

      Norwegian Bokmål

      Etymology

      From Old Norse baka.

      Verb

      bake (imperative bak, present tense baker, passive bakes, simple past bakte, past participle bakt)

      1. to bake (something)

      Derived terms

      References

      Norwegian Nynorsk

      Verb

      bake (present tense bakar or baker, past tense baka or bakte, past participle baka or bakt, passive infinitive bakast, present participle bakande, imperative bak)

      1. e-infinitive form of baka

      Serbo-Croatian

      Noun

      bake (Cyrillic spelling баке)

      1. inflection of baka:
        1. genitive singular
        2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

      Wolio

      Etymology

      Cognate with Laiyolo bake.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /ɓake/

      Noun

      bake

      1. heart
      2. fruit

      References

      • Anceaux, Johannes C. (1987), Wolio Dictionary (Wolio-English-Indonesian) / Kamus Bahasa Wolio (Wolio-Inggeris-Indonesia), Dordrecht: Foris
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