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Cake Meaning, Examples, and Common Idioms (3 meaning)

Meaning 1：a sweet baked dessert (cake)

cake 🔊

/keɪk/

A sweet food made by baking a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, and other things. It's often soft and used for celebrations like birthdays.

a sweet baked dessert 🔊

➕

/ə swiːt beɪkt dɪˈzɜːrt/

A sweet food made from flour, eggs, sugar, etc., typically baked and often decorated for celebrations.

📁 Category：Diet & Health 🔖 Level：beginner

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Old Norse 'kaka' via Old English 'cāc', meaning a small baked sweet.

💡 Mnemonic

Cake rhymes with bake; imagine baking a cake for an easy task.

📖 Example

My mom baked a delicious chocolate cake for my sister's birthday party. 🔊 My mom baked a delicious chocolate cake for my sister's birthday party.

🔗 Collocations

birthday cake – a cake made specially for a birthday, often with frosting and candles

a slice of cake – a portion cut from a whole cake

chocolate cake – a cake flavored or coated with chocolate

🔄 Synonyms

gateau (n.) – a rich, elaborate cake, often with layers and cream

torte (n.) – a rich, dense cake made with little flour and often ground nuts

cupcake (n.) – a small cake baked in a cup-shaped container, often frosted

🌱 Derivatives

cakelike (adj.) – resembling a cake in texture or appearance

cakey (adj.) – having the consistency or texture of cake

📖 Cultural Story

Derived from Old Norse 'kaka' via Old English 'cāc'. Originally small baked bread, later sweet iced desserts. The idiom 'a piece of cake' (easy task) appeared in 1930s US slang.

Meaning 2：become dry and hard as a layer (cake)

cake 🔊

/keɪk/

When a soft or wet substance becomes dry and hard in a thick layer, like mud or old paint.

become dry and hard as a layer 🔊

➕

/bɪˈkʌm draɪ ænd hɑːrd æz ə ˈleɪər/

When a soft or wet substance, such as mud or paint, dries and forms a thick, solid layer.

📁 Category：Objects & Materials 🔖 Level：intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example

The old paint in the can had dried and caked into a solid, useless block. 🔊 The old paint in the can had dried and caked into a solid, useless block.

🔗 Collocations

caked with mud – covered and hardened with mud

caked-on dirt – dried and hardened dirt adhering to a surface

dried and caked – become hard and crusty after drying

🔄 Synonyms

harden (v.) – to become solid or firm

congeal (v.) – to change from a fluid to a solid state, especially because of cooling

crust (v.) – to form a hard outer layer

🚫 Antonyms

dissolve (v.) – to become incorporated into a liquid and disappear

liquefy (v.) – to become liquid

🌱 Derivatives

caked (adj.) – covered with a hardened layer

caking (n.) – the process of forming a hard layer

Meaning 3：very easy task (cake)

cake 🔊

/keɪk/

Used in the idiom "a piece of cake" to mean something that is very easy to do.

Child smiling while completing easy puzzle

very easy task 🔊

➕

/ˈveri ˈiːzi tæsk/

An idiom used to describe something that is extremely simple or effortless to do.

📁 Category：Language Evolution 🔖 Level：intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example

Don't worry about the beginner's swimming test; it'll be a piece of cake for you. 🔊 Don't worry about the beginner's swimming test; it'll be a piece of cake for you.

🔗 Collocations

a piece of cake – an extremely easy task

like a piece of cake – used to emphasize how simple something is

think it's a piece of cake – to believe something is very easy

🔄 Synonyms

breeze (n.) – something that is very easy to accomplish

walk in the park (n.) – an easy or enjoyable task

child's play (n.) – something very simple to do

🚫 Antonyms

challenge (n.) – a difficult task that tests one's abilities

ordeal (n.) – a very unpleasant and difficult experience

struggle (n.) – a difficult effort

🌱 Derivatives

cakewalk (n.) – something very easy or effortless