Word.ws English Dictionary

Neufchâtel

UK/ˈnɜː(f).ʃə.tɛl/US/ˈnʌ(f).ʃɑ.tɛl/

Neufchâtel proper noun: a soft, slightly crumbly, mould-ripened cheese made in the French region of Normandy.

Proper noun

Neufchâtel

  1. A soft, slightly crumbly, mould-ripened cheese made in the French region of Normandy.
    • They gave us some such eggs, cream like a custard, and a Neufchâtel cheese; some brown, but such sweet bread;—we never enjoyed a meal so much.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 264

Origin of Neufchâtel

French, from the region Neufchâtel-en-Bray in Normandy. The placename is originally inspired by the Celtic/Gaulish name Novientum (“new establishment”), reflecting its beginnings as a primitive Gaulish settlement in ancient Normandy. In the 12th century, Henry I Beauclerc, Duke of Normandy, constructed a castle there, initially named Chastel-Nof which evolved into Neufcastel by the 13th century. Over time, the pronunciation shifted, muting the [f] in neuf, resulting in the modern Neufchâtel, a change influenced by educational standardization similar to other toponyms like Neuchâtel. Compare English Newcastle.

Questions about Neufchâtel

What does Neufchâtel mean?
Neufchâtel means a soft, slightly crumbly, mould-ripened cheese made in the French region of Normandy.
What part of speech is Neufchâtel?
Neufchâtel is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Neufchâtel?
Neufchâtel is pronounced /ˈnɜː(f).ʃə.tɛl/ (UK).

Words near Neufchâtel in the dictionary

  1. Neuendorf
  2. Neuendorfs
  3. Neuenschwander
  4. Neuenschwanders
  5. Neufchâteau
  6. Neufchâtel
  7. Neufeld
  8. Neufelds
  9. Neufville
  10. Neugebauer
  11. Neugebauers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Neufchâtel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Neufchâtel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/neufch%C3%A2tel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.