aioli

IPA/aɪˈəʊli/
IPA/aɪˈəʊli/

aioli — noun

1. a creamy sauce, usually served cold, that gets a strong garlic taste from oil an

1.nounB2
Definition

a creamy sauce, usually served cold, that gets a strong garlic taste from oil and often egg

Example

Theo spread lemon aioli on the grilled chicken sandwich at lunch.

collocation: spread aioli on [food]

Mei dipped her roasted potatoes into a bowl of warm aioli.

collocation: bowl of aioli

Common collocations
  • lemon aioli
  • garlic aioli
  • extra aioli
  • bowl of aioli
  • spread aioli on a sandwich
  • serve aioli with fish
Synonyms
  • mayonnaise

    a broader everyday sauce term; plain mayonnaise does not have to contain garlic

  • garlic mayo

    an informal menu label that often overlaps with aioli but sounds less traditional

  • dip

    a much broader word for something you dip food into, not a specific garlic sauce

Grammar Patterns

[food] with aioli

serve aioli with [dish]

Usage Note

Usually treated as uncountable when you mean the sauce on the plate or table. Restaurant menus may use it countably for different flavoured versions, such as "two house aiolis."

Common Mistakes

Pass me an aioli.
Pass me the aioli.
Aioli is usually uncountable when you mean the sauce being served.
This burger comes with mayonnaise' (when the menu says aioli).
This burger comes with aioli.
Aioli specifically suggests a garlic-forward sauce, not just any mayonnaise.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Aioli is a thick sauce whose main flavour comes from garlic. Mayonnaise is the broader everyday word for a smooth egg-and-oil sauce, and it may have no garlic at all. Garlic mayo is a casual menu label that often overlaps with aioli, but it usually suggests a quicker version made by mixing garlic into mayonnaise. Dip is much wider in meaning: aioli can be used as a dip for fries or vegetables, but many dips are cheese-based, yogurt-based, or served hot. On a menu, grilled prawns with aioli sounds more specific than grilled prawns with dip.

aioli ↗mayonnaise ↗garlic mayodip ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • serve with aioli
  • extra aioli
  • bowl of aioli

Prepositions

  • with aioli

Etymology

ProvençalFrenchEnglish

English borrowed aioli from French aïoli, from a southern French form built from words meaning 'garlic' and 'oil.' The name originally referred to a sauce made by pounding garlic with olive oil. In modern English, it often also covers richer restaurant versions that include egg.