# cake, cookie



## Tamar

Hi guys!

How do you say "cake" and "cookie" in your language?

In Hebrew: cake - עוגה uga, cookie - עוגיה ugiya


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## sound shift

In British English: "cake" = "cake"; "cookie" = "biscuit".


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## irene.acler

In *Italian*:

cake = torta (singular) - torte (plural)
cookie = biscotto (singular) - biscotti (plural)


In *Spanish*:

cake = tarta, pastel
cookie = galleta


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## Benvindo

Brazilian Portuguese:
cake: _bolo _or _torta  _(there's a discussion on the differences between _torta _and _bolo _in the PT Forum!)
cookie: _biscoito _(also _bolacha _/bo.'la.sha/ in some cases).


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## Outsider

Benvindo said:


> Brazilian Portuguese:
> cake: _bolo _or _torta  _(there's a discussion on the differences between _torta _and _bolo _in the PT Forum!)


I would add _queque_ and _pastel_. Each has its own specific meaning.


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## Kangy

irene.acler said:


> In Spanish:
> 
> cake = tarta, pastel*, torta*
> cookie = galleta*, galletita*


In Argentina we call them _*torta*_ and _*galletita*_, respectively.
For us, _*tarta*_ means 'pie'. We understand *pastel* with the meaning of 'cake' because of the influence of TV programs and films dubbed in other countries, but for us a *pastel *is something different (click here).

In the case of languages so widely spoken (like Spanish), there will obviously be many different ways of calling the same thing, and often many different things called the same name.


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## WestSideGal

In Puerto Rico - cake = bizcocho, cookie = galleta


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## Clavelito

Cake = torta, bizcocho, pastel, ponqué (_Tart_a, at least in Colombia, is the word for _pie. Ponqué _is not in the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary but is widely used in Colombia).

Cookie = galleta


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## sterretjie

In Afrikaans - 
cake = koek
cookie/biscuit = koekie


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## bb3ca201

anns a' Ghàidhlig:

cake = cèic
cookie(s) = briosgaid(ean)


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## ThomasK

I am wondering whether it is that easy to give the words for 'cake' as I am not sure it covers all the meanings. In Dutch we distinguish between a *cake* (relatively 'dry') and a *'taart'* (with fruit on it, little sculptures sometimes, of all types: frangipane, marmelade cake (cake ?), ... 

I think it would be best to show pictures in order to make sure the words 'cover' the same reality. But I suppose you cannot use pictures here. But we could refer to picture such as
 - cake: http://www.netonline.be/gastronomie/recepten_detail.asp?recept=300
 - taart : http://nl.wikibooks.org/wiki/Kookboek/Kaastaart_met_frambozen or better still: http://www.inkeborret.com/recipes/berrytart.html (that would probably be a tart, not a cake in English)


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## alinapopi

Romanian: cake = prăjitură, tort
              cookie = biscuit(e)


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## Outsider

The latest posts reminded me of another Portuguese word: _tarte_. However, I would normally translate this as "pie" or "tart".


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## Grop

In French a cake is un gâteau, and a cookie is un biscuit. However some specific sorts of cakes are called cakes, and some US-style cookies are called cookies. A pie is une tarte.


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## vikicka

In Macedonian:
Cake= Тоpта (Torta)
Cookie= Кoлач (Kolac)


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*:
cake: cake (loan from English)
cookie (loan from Dutch): koekje

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Tamar

> In Dutch we distinguish between a *cake* (relatively 'dry') and a *'taart'* (with fruit on it, little sculptures sometimes, of all types: frangipane, marmelade cake (cake ?)


We do that too in Hebrew, we have the word tart טארט to refer to a cake that has fruit on it (I think it's actually more used in cafes than anywhere else, I'm sure most people are aware that that kind of cake is called a tart). Btw, don't you use the word "koek" in Dutch? I saw it in the dictionary but didn't know if it's actually used...



> for us a *pastel *is something different (click here)


We also have the word pastel in Hebrew, and it seems to be quite similar - it's fried dough stuffed with meat: http://www.hamimvetaim.com/download/1864/Mosdi/03-s.jpg

And thanks Thomask for the recipes


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## ThomasK

'Koek' to me would be a dry cookie, one portion at a time, but I do know that in some dialects 'koek' may refer to some kind of cake... 

*Pastei* would be 'pastel', but that would be kind-of an all-in-one meal: dough, meat, vegetables, like pie, indeed. No sugar, then, and not meant as a dessert... Yours is not the way I imagine a pie because the dough is harder, so it seems, but OK, we are referring to the same kind of food. I heard the name _*samosa*_ in Africa...

We could start up a cooking club in virtual space, I suppose !


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## Saluton

The Russian for *cake* depends on the kind of cake. It could be *торт* (tort), or *пирожное* (pirozhnoye), or *кекс* (keks), or even sometimes *пирог* (pirog).
A *cookie* would be *печенье* (pechenye) in any case, derived from the verb _печь_ (pech) - to bake.
We have these words as well: _*бисквит*_ (biskvit) - sponge cake and _*галета*_ (galeta) - sea-biscuit 
ThomasK: _*samosa*_ is an Asian dish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosa), called _*самса*_ (samsa) in Russian.


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## ThomasK

Samosa: I think I got mixed up because it was served to me by an Angolese friend married to a Cambodian lady ! 

'Pirog(i)' - isn't that like some kind of meat pie/ pastry ?


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## 2PieRad

Chinese, mandarin pronunciation: 蛋糕， 饼干 (dan4 gao1, bing3 gan1)


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## Tamar

> *samosa* is an Asian dish


 
And there's an Iraqi dish called sambusac which is very similar to samosa http://mablogeria.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_5208.html. Even the name is similar


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## Nizo

The confusion of definitions in other languages has led to some confusion in *Esperanto* as well.  It is probably safe to say that *kuko* is the equivalent of _cake_.  For _cookie/biscuit_, one could use *biskvito, kekso, kuketo*.  This gets even more confusing when you try to find equivalents for the American term _cracker_.


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## ThomasK

That makes me wonder, Nizo: what do you think of when we refer to _cake_ and _tart_ respectively or when you look at the pictures (#11) ? 


To me there is no link between _pie/ pastry/ samosa_, and _cake/ tart/cookie_, because I consider the latter ones as entirely different (dessert, sugar, ...).


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## Nizo

ThomasK said:


> That makes me wonder, Nizo: what do you think of when we refer to _cake_ and _tart_ respectively or when you look at the pictures (#11) ?
> 
> 
> To me there is no link between _pie/ pastry/ samosa_, and _cake/ tart/cookie_, because I consider the latter ones as entirely different (dessert, sugar, ...).


 
Great question, Thomas.  I should have looked at the links before.  I believe I can safely say that almost any American would refer to the _Appelcake_ in link one as *apple pie*.  The picture in link two (_kaastaart met framboozen_) is to me *cheesecake with raspberries*.  In link three (_rood fruit taart_) is pictured a *red fruit tart*.  

We usually think of a cake as being made of eggs, flour, sugar and some other things, then frosted with some type of sugar glaze (which we call frosting or icing).  Examples are wedding cakes and birthday cakes, both of which can be seen here:  http://images.google.com/images?sou...=1T4GZAZ_enUS253US256&q=cake&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi.  They may be single layered or multilayered.  Cheesecake is a notable exception.

We think of a pie as having a top and bottom crust (or sometimes just a bottom crust) which is filled with fruit or some other ingredient.  Examples are apple pie, pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, banana cream pie.

For Americans, cookies can be hard or soft but are always somewhat sweet.

Biscuits have two completely different forms for Americans.  One type of biscuit is the hard, baked item, such as a tea biscuit or a doggy biscuit.  The other is a raised, savory, somewhat fluffy baked good often served with a meal, particularly in the South (biscuits and gravy can often be seen on a Southern breakfast table).

I hope this helps some!  I'm afraid I don't know how my British cousins would define these.


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## ThomasK

Great information, Nizo. It might indicuate or show that lots of the previous information may have been too general, as I see you are using three different terms to refer to 'sugary stuff' (indeed, I should have known there is also apple pie besides meat pie). 

And if those 'guys 'n' dolls from across the ocean" have a different view from you, then... we can start all over again, I think ! ;-)

_ [We think too often that... any language (comparison) is easy. (I plead guilty as well)]_


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## Saluton

ThomasK: _pirog_ is any kind of pie (including small pies with a stuffing, though these are commonly referred to as a _pirozhok,_ a diminutive for _pirog_) but a _cheese cake_ would also be a pirog _(tvorozhnyy pirog). _Or _chizkeyk._ Yuck! It sounds so ugly in Russian  There might be other kinds of cakes that would be _pirog_ but I can't think of any right now.


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## ThomasK

_Cheese cake_ in Russian ? I have heard about lots of Dutch words in Russian, but now you are adopting American words as well. Really ? Well, we have the doughnut/ donut as well...


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## Saluton

well, I guess any language is influenced by English in the first place nowadays. Thank God we still call donuts in Russian (_ponchiki_). Another borrowing that I hate is *пай *(pie), which means a special kind of pie that looks like this or this.


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## valo__fan

Turkish:
Cake:Kek
Cookie:Kurabiye


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## Saluton

*Курабье*_ (kurabiye)_ is a special sort of cookies in Russian - these ones


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## Kanes

Bulgariam: 

kake = keks, torta, pasta, they are diferent kinds kakes.
cookie = biskvita, kurabia


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog:

There's no specific Tagalog word because we also call it *cake* in our country but sometimes we spell it in Filipino as *keyk. *For cookies or biscuits, we call it *biskwet *or simply the original English terms.


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## Hutschi

In German we have the following:

the cookie = 1. "der Keks/das Keks" (depending on location) plural: "die Kekse" or "die Keks"
This is derived from English "cake" 2. "das Plätzchen", plural "die Plätzchen" 
Which is used depends as well on region as on the kind of cookies. There are some other words, which are more special or more general (das Kleingebäck, das/der Biskuit)

the cake (or pie, tart) = 1. "der Kuchen", plural "die Kuchen" 2. "die Torte" (depending on the kind of cake) - the meanings are overlapping with the English ones but are not exactly the same


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*

cake = torta
cookie = keksz


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## sakvaka

In Finnish:

cake - _kakku_ (1-A)
cookie/biscuit - _keksi_ (5) or _pikkuleipä_ - small bread
pie - _piirakka_ (14-A)
tart (*NOT* in the meaning of "a prostitute") - _torttu_ (1-C)

Note the similarities with Hungarian one post up! 

Those declension and consonant gradation types can be found from the website of Kotus (Research Institute for the Languages of Finland).
http://kaino.kotus.fi/sanat/nykysuom...utustyypit.php
http://kaino.kotus.fi/sanat/nykysuom...telutyypit.php


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## rusita preciosa

ThomasK said:


> _Cheese cake_ in Russian ? I have heard about lots of Dutch words in Russian, but now you are adopting American words as well. Really ? Well, we have the doughnut/ donut as well...


 
Doughnut in Russian is *пончик* [ponchik]
but bagel is *бублик* [boob lick]
Needless to say my English-speaking friends in Moscow loved bying bagels!


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## Waterdash

In Costa Rican Spanish:

Cake: queque
Cookie: galleta


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Cake is κέϊκ (c*e*ik) loanword from English and usually describes this
Cookie is μπισκότο (mbisk*o*to) loanword from Italian
Τούρτα (t*u*rta) is this
Pie is πίτα (p*i*ta)


			
				valo__fan said:
			
		

> Turkish:
> ....
> Cookie:Kurabiye


&


			
				Saluton said:
			
		

> _..kurabiye_ is a special sort of cookies in Russian


In Greek κουραμπιές (kurabʝ*e*s, noun, _m._) is a special cookie made for Christmas and is this


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian:

Cake - Torta 
Cookie - Piškotek

Croatian:

Cake - Kolač
Cookie - Keks


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## Favara

In Catalan they're cake=_pastís_ and cookie=_galeta_.
However, in some areas, "cookie" can also be _bescuit_. Looks like English _biscuit_, but it literally means "cooked twice" (cooked in an oven=_cuit_; the _bes-_ prefix means "twice" or "second", this prefix is widely used there... i.e. _bescoll_="second neck"=back of the neck).


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## HUMBERT0

Favara said:


> In Catalan they're cake=_pastís_ and cookie=_galeta_.
> However, in some areas, "cookie" can also be _bescuit_.


In my country: Cake = Pastel and Cookies= Galletas.

There are some small cut pieces of a special cake that is sold at bakeries called “quequis”.  And your "_pastís_" reminded me that there are some sort of empanadas in central Mexico in Hidalgo I think, called “_pastis”._


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## marcie

In Korean 

cake=케이크[keiku]
cookie=쿠키[kuki]

These words are loanwords from English. So I read them based on English pronunciation.


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