Merriam-Webster's Word Central

August 14, 2011

hamburger (noun): \HAM-ber-gur\
What does it mean?: 1 a : ground beef b : a cooked patty of ground beef2 : a sandwich consisting of a patty of hamburger in a split round bun
How do you use it?: To top off a perfect summer day, we cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill for dinner.
Are you a word wiz?: The "ham" in the word "hamburger" has nothing to do with pork, so where do you think "hamburger" originated?

A. from the name of city where hamburgers were first served

B. from a Russian word that means "ground meat"

C. from the name of the cook who was the first to make hamburgers

D. from "homburg," the name of a hat thought to resemble a hamburger

We can trace the term "hamburger" to the name of the German city of Hamburg. In Hamburg, ground beef was cooked and served plain, without a bun or trimmings. By the 1880s, the popular food found its way to the United States, where Americans referred to it as "hamburg-steak" or "hamburger-steak." It soon appeared in its modern form, seasoned and served on a bun, and its name was shortened to "hamburg" or "hamburger." Today, "hamburger" is often shorted even more to "burger."