feta

American  

[fet-uh] / ˈfɛt ə /

noun

1. a soft, white, brine-cured Greek cheese made from sheep's milk or goat's milk.

---

feta British  

/ ˈfɛtə /

noun

1. a white sheep or goat cheese popular in Greece

---

Etymology

Origin of feta

1935–40; < Modern Greek, short for tyrì phéta, equivalent to tyrí cheese ( Greek tyrós ) + phéta slice < Italian fetta ( fettuccine )

Explanation

Feta is a crumbly, tangy cheese that's traditionally made from sheep's milk. Feta is an ingredient in many Greek foods, like spanakopita, or spinach pie. If you've tasted feta, you know what a distinctly sharp, salty flavor this soft white cheese has. Traditional feta is formed into blocks and cured in brine to give it that taste. You can crumble feta into salads, omelets, sandwiches, or anything else that needs a little extra salt or tanginess. Feta is from the Modern Greek tyri pheta, "slice of cheese."

Example Sentences

An annex specified that, as far as Indonesia is concerned, feta comes only from Greece and Gorgonzola from Italy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

The EU says a primitive form of feta is mentioned in the Odyssey, when the hero of the ancient epic takes cheese from the cave of the cyclops Polyphemus.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Christina Onasoglou is a food technologist specialising in dairy products who runs with her husband a medium-sized dairy that exports 98 percent of the feta it produces.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

There's even a focaccia cake with roasted tomato, pesto and feta icing – a savoury offering Sunga is delighted to see.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

I was actually pretty good at finding ways to turn the vegetarian ground beef, beets, feta cheese, and apricots into something edible.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman