Seasoning Food and the Four Seasons Share a Root
A season is a division of the year. The word comes from the Latin for sowing, and seasoning food originally meant letting it ripen.
A season is one of the year's four divisions, or any period fit for a particular activity. The root is Latin *satio*, a sowing — the season was the time to plant. Seasoning food comes from the same word: to season was to bring something to ripeness, and only later to add salt and spice. Seasoned wood and a seasoned traveller both still carry the older sense.
- A division of the year. *The dry season.*
- A period for an activity. *The football season.*
- A run of episodes. *Season three.*
- Verb, to flavour. *Season with pepper.*
- Seasoned — matured or experienced. *A seasoned negotiator.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | season | The rainy season. |
| Plural | seasons | Four seasons. |
| Verb | season | Season the pan. |
| Adjective | seasonal | Seasonal work. |
| Adjective | seasoned | Seasoned oak. |
- Strawberries are in season for a few short weeks.Fixed phrase.
- Season the meat an hour before cooking.Flavouring.
- She is a seasoned campaigner.Experienced, the older sense.
Season phrases
- In season — available or legally huntable now
- Out of season — not available, or off-peak
- Silly season — late summer, when newspapers run trivial stories
- Season ticket — one that covers a whole period
- Seasoned pan — one with a hardened layer of oil, not one with salt on it
Old French *seson*, from Latin *satio*, a sowing, from *serere*, to sow. The cooking sense arrived in the 1300s from the idea of bringing food to its proper state.
Why does season mean both a time of year and to add spice?
Both come from the idea of ripening. The time of sowing became the season; bringing food to ripeness became seasoning.
What does seasoned wood mean?
Timber dried slowly until its moisture content is stable. Nothing is added; it is matured, in the old sense of the word.