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cake

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Small flat mass of chopped food.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kayk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkeɪk

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.

noun

  1. Small flat mass of chopped food

  2. A small mass of baked dough, especially a thin loaf from unleavened dough.

  3. Baked goods made from or based on a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, and fat

  4. A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing.

  5. A thin wafer-shaped mass of fried batter; a griddlecake or pancake.

  6. A block of any various dense materials.

verb

  1. transitive

    Coat (something) with a crust of solid material.

  2. intransitive

    Of blood or other liquid, to dry out and become hard.

  3. transitive

    To form into a cake, or mass.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Small flat mass of chopped food

Used this way, cake is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Mild
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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

More ways to use cake

  • “We baked a delicious chocolate cake for the celebration.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

chocolate cakewedding cakebirthday cakefilter cakelayer cakepound cakesponge cakecoffee cake

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • cake mixnounCompound term

    A commercial mix for making a cake.

  • corn cakenounCompound term

    Baked in a pan or on a griddle (southern and midland).

  • applesauce cakenounCompound term

    Moist spicy cake containing applesauce.

  • buckwheat cakenounCompound term

    A pancake made with buckwheat flour.

  • chocolate cakenounCompound term

    Cake containing chocolate.

  • chiffon cakenounCompound term

    Very light cake.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • cakewalknounRelated term

    A strutting dance based on a march.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: small flat mass of chopped food

patty

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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.