à la carte

See also: a la carte

English

Alternative forms

• a la carte
• à-la-carte

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæ.ləˈkɑːt/, /ˌæ.læˈkɑːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɑ.ləˈkɑɹt/, /ˌɑ.lɑˈkɑɹt/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t

Adjective

à la carte (not comparable)

1. (food and drink) Allowing selection from a fixed list of individually priced options shown on the menu.

   Antonym: table d'hôte

   The restaurant had a huge à la carte menu and four specials that day.

2. (by extension) Selective; only choosing what one likes or desires.

   Synonym: cherry-picking

   • 2021 September 6, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Can Progressives Be Convinced That Genetics Matters?”, in The New Yorker‎^[1]:

     When schizophrenia and autism, for example, turned out to be largely heritable, we no longer blamed these disorders on cold or inept mothers. But, for such freighted traits as intelligence, liberals remained understandably anxious and continued to insist that differences—not just on a group level but on an individual one—were merely artifacts of an unequal environment. Conservatives pointed out that an à-la-carte approach to scientific findings was intellectually incoherent.

3. (Philippines, particularly in restaurants) A meal but only the viand (without rice).

Translations

allowing selection from a menu

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 散嗌 (saan² aai³)

  Mandarin: 單點 / 单点 (dāndiǎn)

• Finnish: à la carte (fi)
• French: à la carte (fr)
• German: à la carte (de)
• Hungarian: à la carte (hu), étlap szerint
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: à la carte (no), a la carte

• Spanish: a la carta
• Turkish: alakart (tr)

Adverb

à la carte (not comparable)

1. By ordering individually priced items from the menu.
   • 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xvii^[2]:

     There were two divisions in the restaurants I used to visit. One division, which was patronized by fairly well-to-do people, provided any number of courses from which one chose and paid for à la carte, each dinner thus costing from one to two shillings. The other division provided six-penny dinners of three courses with a slice of bread. In my days of strict frugality I usually dined in the second division.

Antonyms

• table d'hôte

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

à la carte

1. (Food and drink) allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu
2. (Food and drink) with each dish priced
3. (by extension) from any longlist of options, or even free choice, as opposed to a shortlist

Derived terms

• à-la-cartemenu
• à-la-carterestaurant

 

French

Etymology

Literally, “to the menu”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a la kaʁt/

Adverb

à la carte

1. (food and drink) à la carte (allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu)

   Antonym: à prix fixe

   manger à la carte ― to eat à la carte

2. (food and drink) with each dish priced (clarification of this definition is needed)
3. (by extension) from any longlist of options, or even free choice, as opposed to a shortlist

Descendants

• → Dutch: à la carte
• → English: à la carte
• → Norwegian Bokmål: à la carte
• → Swahili: à la carte
• → Turkish: alakart

References

• “carte”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu”).

Adjective

à la carte

1. à la carte

Further reading

• “à la carte” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• a la carte

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.laˈkaʈ/, /a.laˈkaʁt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʈ, -aʁt
• Hyphenation: à‧la‧carte

Noun

à la carte m (definite singular à la carten or a la carten, indefinite plural à la carter or a la carter, definite plural à la cartene or a la cartene)

1. (cooking) à la carte, allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu

   det ble servert en storslagen à la cartemiddag

   a great à la carte dinner was served

   • 1968, Arbeider-Avisa:

     a la carten ser likedan [ut] år ut og år inn

     the a la carte looks the same year in and year out

   • 1972, Gunnar Brinck, Harry Sjøgren, Guide til Europas natteliv, page 134:

     det er billigere å bestille dagens meny, som som regel består av fire retter, enn a la carte

     it is cheaper to order the menu of the day, which usually consists of four dishes, than a la carte

   • 2005, Tove Nilsen, Skrivefest:

     det var hvite duker og bukkende kelnere og à la carte på spansk

     there were white tablecloths and bowing waiters and à la carte in Spanish

Adverb

à la carte

1. (cooking) à la carte, allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu

   spise à la carte

   eating à la carte

   • 1926, Alf B. Bryn, Peter van Heeren gjør hvad der falder ham ind, page 95:

     jeg [skal] ærlig tilstaa at jeg foretrækker at spise à la carte

     I [must] honestly admit that I prefer to eat à la carte

   • 2015 April 18, Dagens Næringsliv:

     gjestene [på restauranten] kan selv velge om de vil spise à la carte eller hive seg på dagens seksretter til 745 kroner

     the guests [at the restaurant] can choose whether they want to eat à la carte or indulge in today's six-course meal for 745 kroner

2. (cooking) with each dish priced
3. (figuratively) from any longlist of options, or even free choice, as opposed to a shortlist
   • 1975, Kirke og kultur:

     et nær sagt fullstendig à la carte-tilbud i alle studieretninger som faller inn under det videregående skoleverk

     an almost complete à la carte offering in all fields of study that falls under the high school system

   • 2015 March 6, Morgenbladet:

     det [er] heller ikke å anbefale at Norge boikotter deler av EMDs [dvs. Den europeiske menneskerettighetsdomstolens] praksis: en slik a la carte-strategi kan gi inspirasjon til at også andre land unnlater å gjennomføre dommer de ikke liker

     nor is it recommended that Norway boycott parts of the EMDs [ie The case law of the European Court of Human Rights: such an a la carte strategy may inspire other countries to refrain from enforcing sentences they do not like

Derived terms

• à la carte-meny (“à la carte menu”)
• à la carte-servering (“à la carte serving”)

References

• “à la carte” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “à_la_carte_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “à_la_carte_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “à la carte” in Store norske leksikon

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌa.laˈkaʈː/

Adverb

à la carte (not comparable)

1. (Food and drink) à la carte