Everyday LifeGreek → English
Filo
/ˈfiːloʊ/noun
Paper-thin pastry, layered with butter or oil to make pies and sweets.
The Greek roots
φύλλον
phýllon
leaf
Literally: “leaf”
Follow a root:φύλλον6 words
The story of the word
In Greek the word is doing three jobs at once: φύλλο is a leaf on a tree, a sheet of paper, and a sheet of pastry thin enough to read a newspaper through. English kitchens spell it filo or phyllo depending on which side of the Atlantic they stand, and Greek grandmothers still judge a pie by how few sheets you can see through. The same leaf sits in chlorophyll, the green in the leaf.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Greek → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
chlorophyllphyllotaxisphylloxera
In a sentence
Keep the filo under a damp towel or it turns to dust in ten minutes.
She buys filo rather than making it, and so does everyone honest.