rasher

A "rasher" is usually a thin slice of bacon, and sometimes a thin slice of ham. You will often see it in British or Irish English, especially when people talk about breakfast: a plate with eggs, toast, and a few rashers of bacon. Less often, "rasher" is also the comparative form of "rash," meaning more careless or more quick to act without thinking. In everyday use, though, the food meaning is by far the one most people mean.

Most of the time, "rasher" refers to a thin slice of bacon. In some contexts it can also mean a thin slice of ham, but bacon is the usual idea. The word is especially common in British and Irish English, where someone might order a sandwich with two rashers of bacon or describe a full breakfast with eggs, sausages, and rashers. The tone is everyday and natural, especially in talk about food.

There is also another use: "rasher" can be the comparative form of the adjective "rash," meaning more careless, more reckless, or more likely to act too quickly. For example, one plan may seem rasher than another, or one person may grow rasher under pressure. This sense is correct, but it is much less common in normal conversation than the food meaning. Because of that, if you see the word by itself on a menu, in a recipe, or in a story about breakfast, it almost certainly means a slice of bacon rather than "more rash."