cakes and ale

/ˌkeɪks n̩ ˈeɪl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

British usage; Dated

noun

British usage; Dated

"To furnish the cakes and ale of the mind, is, we take it, the proper virtue of novels. It is for mental delight and recreation that we resort to them."
"Doſt thou thinke becauſe thou art vertuous, there ſhall be no more Cakes and Ale?"

From William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night (written c. 1601–1602), Act II, scene iii: see the quotation.

pleasure

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Questions

How do you pronounce cakes and ale?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˌkeɪks n̩ ˈeɪl/.

What does cakes and ale mean?

The simple material pleasures of life.

Where does cakes and ale come from?

From William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night (written c. 1601–1602), Act II, scene iii: see the quotation.

How to pronounce cakes and ale

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cakes and ale”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌkeɪks n̩ ˈeɪl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

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