parfait
nounUK /ˈpɑːfeɪ/ · US /ˈpɑɹfeɪ/
Etymology Unadapted borrowing from French parfait (“perfect”). Doublet of parfit, perfect, perfecto, and perfectus.
1
A French parfait (parfait glacé), an iced dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, cream, and flavouring (usually fruit), sometimes with the addition of a liqueur.
- Brad hesitated, peering at the grid of spun sugar that jutted from his loganberry parfait.2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 379:
2
An American parfait, a layered dessert often consisting of fruit, ice cream, pastries, whipped topping, etc. and served in a glass, often a parfait glass.
- It was a parfait of puréed avocados, whipped cream, sugar and vanilla, which had been molded into a rectangle atop a peanut-butter crust and then bedecked with tiny wild strawberries. […] We were utterly transfixed, and we were quickly out of parfait.2005 August 19, Frank Bruni, “Compass”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 May 2015:
3
UK A smooth pâté, usually made from liver and flavoured with liqueurs.
- Derived terms
- parfait spoon
- Related terms
- parfait amour, parfait d'amour