different between smorgasbord vs potluck

English

Alternative forms

• smörgåsbord

Etymology

Borrowed from Swedish smörgåsbord (“buffet with many small dishes; smorgasbord”), from smörgås (“sandwich”) + bord (“table”). Smörgås is from Swedish smör (“butter”) + gås (“goose”), a reference to pieces of butter which float to the surface of milk when churned.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sm????s(?)b??d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sm????s?b??d/, /??m??-/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d
• Hyphenation: smor?gas?bord

Noun

smorgasbord (plural smorgasbords)

1. A Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes; (by extension) any buffet with a wide selection of dishes.
2. (figuratively) An abundant and diverse collection of things.

   Synonyms: assortment, hodgepodge, medley, miscellany, Whitman's sampler; see also Thesaurus:hodgepodge

Translations

References

Further reading

• smörgåsbord on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• smorgasbord (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From pot +? luck. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sense 3 (“a shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought”) is unlikely to have been influenced by potlatch even though it has the same meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?t?l?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?t?l?k/, /-?l?k/, /?p?t?l?k/
• Rhymes: -?k (some pronunciations)
• Hyphenation: pot?luck

Noun

potluck (countable and uncountable, plural potlucks) (also attributively)

1. (dated) A meal, especially one offered to a guest, consisting of whatever food is available.
2. (by extension) Whatever is available in a particular situation.
3. (originally Canada, US) A shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought (sometimes without prior arrangement); a potlatch; also, a dish of food brought to such a meal.

   Synonym: (Britain, dialectal) fuddle
4. (obsolete) The last draft or portion of an alcoholic beverage in a pot or other drinking vessel.

Usage notes

Sense 3 of the term is widespread in American English, though the Dictionary of American Regional English finds that it is less common in the South, the Mid-Atlantic states, and New York than elsewhere.

Alternative forms

• pot luck
• pot-luck

Translations

See also

• brown bag

References

Further reading

• potluck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers and editors (1902) , “Pot-luck”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: […], volume V (N. to Razzle-dazzle), London: Printed for subscribers only, OCLC 220990342, pages 273–274.
• potluck in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “potluck”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “potluck”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• putlock