zephyrette

Syllables: Ze·phyr·ette/ˌzɛfəˈɹɛt/

zephyrette noun: a type of light, crisp cracker, used primarily for some hors d'oeuvres.

Noun (1)

zephyrette (plural zephyrettes)

A type of light, crisp cracker, used primarily for some hors d'oeuvres.
- Spread zephyrettes with quince jelly and sprinkle with chopped English walnut meat. Place a zephyrette over each and press together.1896, Fannie Merritt Farmer, The Boston Cooking-school Cook Book, page 461
- Mix with the whites of the eggs, and spread on zephyrette biscuits or on thin slices of bread.1896, Ysaguirre, La Marca, Cold Dishes for Hot Weather, page 126
A daughter of Aeolus; a tiny female spirit of the wind.
- The storm, however, subsided ; and subsequently I discovered, upon music and the opera becoming the topics of conversation, that Mr. Nobody rivalled Paganini on the violin ; and believed that his lady danced better than the zephyrette, Taglioni; and that Herz, Hummel, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini...1831, Belle Assemblée
- ... and then the battles and struggles of these animals, the injuries inflicted on them by each other, and yet their continued existence: and, finally, this mingled, fluttering, hurting, killing, caressing, reproducing life becomes an infinite breath of life, wherein the individual life flies like...1863, Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, Levana ... Translated from the German, page 318

Noun (2) capitalized: Zephyrette

Zephyrette (plural Zephyrettes)

(historical) An on-board hostess on the California Zephyr train, which originally operated between 1949 and 1970.
- The Zephyrette then takes the reservations of the Pullman passengers.1952, David L. Paden, Problems and Economics of Dining Car Service (unpublished M.B.A. dissertation), Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University, →OCLC, page 163
- A good part of the train's personality lay in the Zephyrette, an on-board factotum who, like an airline stewardess, was a mix of hostess, paramedic, tour guide, secretary, nanny, security guard, purser, public relations agent and ombudswoman.1995, Henry Kisor, Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America, New York, N.Y.: Times Books/Random House, →ISBN; republished Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Publishing Group, 1995, →ISBN, page 18
A lightweight print fabric used for women's dresses.
- I'm going to select one of those beautiful fast-color Zephyrette patterns for my 'prize' dress.1908 June, “The Prize Dress [advertisement]”, in James M. Irvine, editor, The Fruit-grower: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine for Progressive American Farmers, volume 19, number 6, St. Joseph, Mo.: The...
- McCutcheon's Stocks of Ginghams, Linens, Shirtings, Novelty Voiles, Zephyrette, Japanese Crepes, and White materials are always abundant and varied.1921 February 5, “McCutcheon’s Smart New Fabrics for Spring and Summer Frocks [advertisement]”, in Hamilton Holt, editor, The Independent, volume 105, number 3757, New York, N.Y.: Independent...

Examples of zephyrette in a sentence

Lay each one on a zephyrette and pour the liquor over.2008, May E. Southworth, Midnight Feasts, →ISBN, page 83:
Aeolus appeared surrounded by a crowd of his children — the zephyrs and zephyrettes.2003, David Rothenberg, Wandee J. Pryor, Writing on Air, →ISBN, page 274:

Forms of zephyrette

plural	zephyrettes
plural	Zephyrettes

Origin of zephyrette

From zephyr + -ette.

From zephyr (“light wind from the west”) + -ette (suffix forming nouns meaning the female equivalent of something). Zephyr is derived from Latin zephyrus, Zephyrus (“personification of the west wind”), from Ancient Greek Ζέφῠρος (Zéphŭros, “personification of the west wind”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃yebʰ- (“to enter, penetrate; to copulate”). Sense 1 (“on-board hostess”) is derived from the California Zephyr train.

Words that rhyme with zephyrette

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about zephyrette

What does zephyrette mean?: Zephyrette means a type of light, crisp cracker, used primarily for some hors d'oeuvres.
How do you use zephyrette in a sentence?: Lay each one on a zephyrette and pour the liquor over.
What part of speech is zephyrette?: Zephyrette is a noun.
How do you pronounce zephyrette?: Zephyrette is pronounced /ˌzɛfəˈɹɛt/ (UK).
What is the plural of zephyrette?: The plural of zephyrette is zephyrettes.

Words near zephyrette in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: zephyrette (page history and authors); Zephyrette (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Zephyrette1.wav.

Cite this entry: “zephyrette.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zephyrette. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.