Cutlery
/ˈkʌtləri/
Definitions
Knives, forks, and spoons used for eating or serving food.
/ˈkʌtləri/
Utensils used for eating and serving food
Please set the cutlery on the table.
💡 Simply: Cutlery is all the stuff you use to eat with! Like, forks for spaghetti, knives for cutting your steak, and spoons for your soup. Imagine you're setting the table – you need the cutlery!
👶 For kids: Cutlery is all the things you use to eat with, like spoons, forks, and knives!
More Examples
The silverware, which is also called cutlery, was polished.
The restaurant provided a fresh set of cutlery with each meal.
How It's Used
"We need to set the cutlery on the table before dinner."
"The restaurant provided clean cutlery with each course."
From Middle English 'cutler', meaning a maker or seller of knives, and likely related to 'cut'. The suffix '-ery' indicates a collection or group.
Historically, 'cutlery' referred to the craft of making knives and related tools. Its meaning evolved to include all eating and serving utensils over time.
Memory tip
Think of a 'cut' (knife) and related items; thus, cutlery.
Word Origin
"related to 'cut'; a maker or seller of knives"