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Anticipating a delicious meal shortly, we have found ourselves in rival camps of gourmets and epicures. My OED searching suggests these are, essentially, the same. Do you agree ?

OED entry for gourmet:

A connoisseur of good food; a person with a discerning palate.

OED entry for epicure:

A person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink.

Hellion
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Dan
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  • Simple yes/no questions lacking any elaboration are going to generate low-quality answers. They also tend to be closed either as Primarily Opinion Based or Off-topic Proofreading questions. So you might want to work on that. They are also prone to closure as General Reference / Show Us Your Research — which you have not done. You merely allude to it; you do not show what you found. – tchrist Mar 15 '15 at 16:20
  • OED goumet: A connoisseur of good food; a person with a discerning palate. – Dan Mar 15 '15 at 16:25
  • OED epicure: A person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink: – Dan Mar 15 '15 at 16:25
  • @tchrist I gave my research - an authoratative, respected source. I am inviting you to share your language and usage. – Dan Mar 15 '15 at 16:26
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    Please edit your research into your question; comments are ephemera. Also, "inviting people to share" is provoking discussions, not answers. – tchrist Mar 15 '15 at 16:28
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    The question is - Do you consider the two words to be synonyms. The research - OED - is in front of you. – Dan Mar 15 '15 at 16:29
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    related: Is there a word for one who enjoys to eat for the sake of eating (a food hedonist)? – Mari-Lou A Mar 15 '15 at 17:12
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    @Mari-LouA, clearly related. The question is simply whether, in modern English, an epicurean and a gourmet are the same thing. – Dan Mar 15 '15 at 17:23
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    @Mari-LouA Done as requested. For the life of me I don't understand why so much attention is spent correcting a perfectly simple question. Do you have an answer, please? – Dan Mar 15 '15 at 17:42

1 Answers1

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They are similar enough to be considered synonyms, but they are not exactly the same.

Gourmet refers to food and drink exclusively. In contrast, epicure hints at sensual pleasures in addition to food and drink, with both the OED and Merriam-Webster focusing the meaning of the word as being "especially" related to food and drink -- implying there's more beyond food and drink.

Ghopper21
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