beignet

American  

[ben-yey, be-nye] / bɛnˈyeɪ, bɛˈnyɛ /

noun

plural

beignets

1. a fritter or doughnut.

2. French Cooking. any fruit, vegetable, seafood, etc., dipped in batter and deep-fried.

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beignet British  

/ ˈbɛnjeɪ /

noun

1. a square deep-fried pastry served hot and sprinkled with icing sugar

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Etymology

Origin of beignet

1830–35, < Louisiana French beignet ( def. 1 ), French beignet ( def. 2 ), Middle French bignet pastry filled with fruit or meat, equivalent to buyne literally, bruise, lump from a blow (of uncertain origin; bunion ) + -et -et

Example Sentences

Good idea: Filling your mouth with a warm beignet.

From Washington Post • Oct. 21, 2021

“This is how much I like you,” Gadot said as the host picked up a jelly sufganiyot, a cross between a beignet and a jelly donut, served at Hanukkah.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2020

I wouldn’t miss the shops that cropped up like toadstools at our ports, selling their own confused global gumbo — New Orleans coffee and beignet mix in Charleston, “Peruvian spirit animals” in Myrtle Beach.

From New York Times • Mar. 12, 2015

Nothing new about that, even if the humor has, by now, grown staler than a day-old French Quarter beignet.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 30, 2013

Her skin matches the exact shade of mine—a sugared beignet fresh from the oil, golden brown and glistening under the lantern light.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton