The main dish of a meal, or the right to enter a place or group.
From French 'entrée' (entrance), originally referring to the act of entering. In cooking, it came to mean the course that was served as you 'entered' the main part of the meal. The meaning shifted over time and regions—in America it became the main course itself.
The word traveled from French banquet etiquette to American dinner tables, but it completely changed meaning! In France, entrée was actually a smaller course, but American restaurants redefined it as the main event—a fascinating example of how words transform when they cross the Atlantic.
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