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bake

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Cook and make edible by putting in a hot oven.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bayk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbeɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Cook and make edible by putting in a hot oven

  2. (transitive or intransitive or ditransitive, with person as subject) To cook (something) in an oven (for someone).

  3. intransitive

    To be warmed to drying and hardening.

  4. Prepare with dry heat in an oven

  5. Heat by a natural force

  6. Be very hot, due to hot weather or exposure to the sun

noun

  1. The act of cooking food by baking.

  2. us

    A social event at which food (such as seafood) is baked, or at which baked food is served.

  3. Any food item that is baked, such as a pastry.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Cook and make edible by putting in a hot oven

Used this way, bake is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a food and cooking use: everyday in kitchens and recipes.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Cooking/food
  • Everyday conversation

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use bake

  • “I love to bake cookies for my family on Sundays.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

bake saleclam bakebake breadbake ovenminutes bakesalmon bakeexposure bake

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • bakernounInflected form

    Someone who bakes commercially.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • baked eggnounCompound term

    Egg cooked individually in cream or butter in a small ramekin.

  • baked-apple berrynounCompound term

    Creeping raspberry of north temperate regions with yellow or orange berries.

  • baked goodsnounCompound term

    Foods (like breads and cakes and pastries) that are cooked in an oven.

  • baked alaskanounCompound term

    Cake covered with ice cream and meringue browned quickly in an oven.

  • baked potatonounCompound term

    Potato that has been cooked by baking it in an oven.

  • boston baked beansnounCompound term

    Dried navy beans baked slowly with molasses and salt pork.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • bakerynounRelated term

    A workplace where baked goods (breads and cakes and pastries) are produced or sold.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.