sapid

American  

[sap-id] / ˈsæp ɪd /

adjective

1. having taste or flavor.

2. agreeable to the taste; palatable.

3. agreeable, as to the mind; to one's liking.

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sapid British  

/ ˈsæpɪd, səˈpɪdɪtɪ /

adjective

1. having a pleasant taste

2. agreeable or engaging

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Other Word Forms

• sapidity noun
• sapidness noun

Etymology

Origin of sapid

1625–35; < Latin sapidus tasty; sage ¹

Explanation

Something that's sapid is very flavorful or savory. A sapid beef stew tastes rich and delicious. The adjective sapid is a fairly uncommon way to describe something with a rich, deep flavor. You can declare your grandmother's Thanksgiving feast sapid, though you may have to reassure her that it's a compliment — sapid is more often used in scientific or industry writing about food than in cooking magazines. It comes from the Latin sapidus, "savory, or having a taste," from the root sapere, which means both "to taste" and "to be wise."

Example Sentences

It’s a particularly toothsome, sapid red marked by notes of red fruit and spice, and a wonderful match with a wide range of foods.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025

Unlike animals raised in feedlots and pens, Stone Barns' animals oxygenate their muscles with all their ranging and grass-eating, and thereby develop more sapid meat.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pure water is neither sapid nor odorous, equivalent to Water is not sapid; Water is not odorous.

From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth

Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid, of which the smell shall be vertiginous and the taste death.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 34, August, 1860 by Various

Adj. sapid, saporific†; gustable†, gustatory; gustful†; strong, gamy; palatable &c.

From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Roget, Peter Mark