tapenade

Meaning

Noun

• A Provençal dish consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil, usually eaten with bread as an hors d'œuvre.

Origin

• Borrowed from French tapenade, from Provençal and Occitan tapenada, tapenado, a diminutive of tapeno, variant of tàpero, from Old Occitan tapera, from Latin capparis.
• Influenced by Old Occitan tapia, referring to caper bushes growing against buildings made of rammed earth.