Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Meat for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Meat" — noun, pronounced /miːt/, with the stress on "meat".
Narrator: Meat refers to the flesh of animals, especially mammals, used as food.
Narrator: In plain English, it is the animal protein we cook and eat for sustenance.
Narrator: It stems from the Old English word mete, originally meaning food of any kind.
Narrator: A common collocation is red meat, describing beef, lamb, and other dark-coloured livestock.
Narrator: It differs from flesh, which is a broader biological term for the soft tissues of any body.
Narrator: The phrase the meat of the matter refers to the most important or essential part of an issue.
Narrator: Culinary arts, agriculture, and nutrition science all rely heavily on this fundamental term.
Narrator: So remember: meat is the edible tissue of animals, serving as a core component in global diets.
Speaker A: Do we still use the word meat to describe any type of food like they did in old times?
Speaker B: Not really, though MEAT comes from the Old English term mete, which once meant any solid food.
Speaker A: So when did the meaning narrow down to just animal flesh?
Speaker B: It gradually narrowed during the Middle Ages as specific terms for animal flesh became more common.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: The butcher prepared the meat for the Sunday roast. She prefers plant-based alternatives to meat. The meat of the argument was hidden in the footnotes.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Avoid using it as a countable noun; it is uncountable, so you should never say a meat.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: Flesh is a cousin, protein is a twin, and muscle is an alternative; it keeps its culinary charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "meat" in AI prompts — useful for food blogging and nutritional database categorisation.
Speaker A: How can I use it to get better recipe suggestions?
Speaker B: Use it to narrow down ingredients based on dietary restrictions.
Prompt: Suggest three low-fat dinner recipes that feature lean white meat as the primary protein source.
Speaker A: What about writing descriptive copy for a restaurant menu?
Speaker B: This helps generate evocative language to highlight quality.
Prompt: Write a mouth-watering description for a premium cut of dry-aged meat suitable for a luxury bistro menu.
Speaker A: Can it assist with logical structural analysis?
Speaker B: It is perfect for extracting the essential core of a complex text.
Prompt: Identify the meat of the argument in this provided academic report and summarise the findings in three bullet points.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: Try it for meal planning software automation.
Prompt: Create a weekly meal plan that alternates between red meat and poultry dishes for optimal nutritional balance.
Meat — meaning in Arabic & definition More M courses GL Dictionary