escargot

noun

es·​car·​got ˌe-ˌskär-ˈgō How to pronounce escargot (audio)
plural escargots ˌe-ˌskär-ˈgō(z) How to pronounce escargot (audio)
: a snail prepared for use as food

Examples of escargot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
For starters, try the escargot, baked in garlic butter and served with crisp toast, or the bruschetta with Boursin, topped with tomato, basil and creamy cheese. — Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register, 31 Jan. 2026 Entrees included live Maine lobster, Russian caviar and escargot, some flown in daily. — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar. 2026 Start with the onion soup that has just enough Gruyère melted on top, the escargots in bubbly, garlicky butter or the oysters on the half shell served with a Mignonette sauce. — Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 2026 The escargot was a satisfying appetizer with plenty of garlic and butter. — Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for escargot

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, "snail," going back to Middle French escargol, borrowed from an Old Occitan antecedent of Occitan (17th-century Toulouse) escaragol, (Marseille) escaragóou, (Béarn) escargolh, alteration (perhaps by association with Old Occitan escaravat "scarab beetle" and other descendants of Latin scarabaeus scarab) of Old Occitan carcol "spiral staircase," Occitan (Rhône mouth) kalagou, karagǫu "snail," with parallel forms in Ibero-Romance (Spanish caracol "snail, gastropod, shell of a gastropod, caracole", Portuguese caracol "snail, gastropod," Galician caracó, Catalan caragol "gastropod, something with a spiral shape, helix"), of uncertain origin

Note: The Occitan forms can be explained as metathetic variants of kakaláw "snail, empty nutshell" (Bas-Dauphiné, i.e., western Dauphiné), cacaláou "snail" (Provence), cagarol (Béziers), apparently based on *cocŭlia "shell of a mollusk, nut or egg" blended with another word (see cockle entry 2). However, there is no counterpart to the unmetathesized words in Ibero-Romance, so one would have to accept that caracol, etc., were loanwords from Occitan, a somewhat unusual migration given that this sort of expressive vocabulary would more likely be native and perhaps substratal. It has been hypothesized that the word with which *cocŭlia has been blended is Greek káchlēx "shingle, gravel in a riverbed," though this word has otherwise apparently left no other trace in Romance. Another suggestion is an expressive and/or pre-Romance element *cacar- "shell of a mollusk," an extension of a root *cac(c)-/*coc(c)-, or perhaps more likely *car- "shell." (See J. Hubschmid, "Die Stämme *kar(r)- und *kurr- im Iberoromanischen, Baskischen und Inselkeltischen," Romance Philology, vol. 13, no. 1 [August, 1959], p. 39; J. Coromines, Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, s.v. caracol.)

First Known Use

circa 1892, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of escargot was circa 1892

Rhymes for escargot

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Browse Nearby Words

escarbuncle
escargot
escargotiere
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Cite this Entry

“Escargot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/escargot. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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Kids Definition

escargot

noun
es·​car·​got ˌes-ˌkär-ˈgō How to pronounce escargot (audio)
plural escargots -ˈgō(z) How to pronounce escargot (audio)
: a snail prepared for use as food

More from Merriam-Webster on escargot

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about escargot

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