DictionaryAI

burger

noun
USBUR-gur/ˈbɝɡɚ/UKBUR-guh/ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

Pluralburgers

4 meanings of burger

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A flat cooked patty, usually of ground beef but also of chicken, fish, beans, or vegetables, typically served inside a sliced round bun.

    She ordered a burger and fries at the diner near the highway.

    The food truck sells burgers topped with grilled onions and pickles.

    UsagePut the filling first: chicken burger, veggie burger. A plain burger most often means beef.

    Similarhamburger

    Note

    A clipping built on a misreading: hamburger was heard as ham + burger, and the second half broke off to stand alone in the late 1930s. The ham was never really there, but the false split proved useful. It left burger free to take new first halves, as in chicken, fish and veggie burgers.

  2. 2
    any filled bunnounAustraliaIndiaIrelandNew ZealandSouth AfricaUKcountable
    Any sandwich served between two halves of a bread roll or bun, whatever the filling; in North American use, only one containing a patty.

    At the British pub, even pulled pork piled into a bun was listed as a burger.

    My American friend laughed when the London menu called a bacon-and-egg roll a breakfast burger.

    Similarroll

    Note

    Here the dialect split is sharpest. In Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India or Fiji, a grilled chicken breast or a battered fish fillet in a bun is a burger. In the United States, the same thing would not usually earn the name without a patty, and Canadian usage varies. Anyone reading a menu outside North America should expect the wider meaning.

  3. 3
    American (insult)nounderogatorycountable
    A disparaging slang name for an American person.

    One anonymous poster sneered that the average burger couldn't locate France on a map.

    The thread filled up with Europeans ribbing burgers about portion sizes and tipping.

    SimilarYank

    Note

    Internet slang at home on 4chan, and the name probably runs backward. Burgerland came first as a name for the United States, and the person was then named after the place.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    nounderogatoryPakistancountable
    A disparaging label for a well-off Pakistani seen as aspiring to a westernized lifestyle.

    Back in Lahore, his old classmates called him a burger for his imported sneakers and the English he mixed into every sentence.

    The columnist mocked the city's burgers for protesting only when their gated communities were affected.

    UsageAlso used before a noun, as in the burger class or burger kids.

    Note

    Pakistani English turns the food into a class label. The burger is the well-off, westernized person whose tastes seem borrowed from abroad.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of burger apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This short form dates from the late 1930s. Speakers treated hamburger as if it were made of ham + burger, then dropped the first part. Burgerland is the likely source, by back-formation, of the "American" sense.