tablespoon

Imagine you're baking cookies with your grandma. She doesn't pull out a measuring cup for every little thing. Instead, she says, "Add a tablespoon of vanilla!" A tablespoon is a common cooking measure. It equals three teaspoons, or about 15 milliliters. The word comes from the large spoon once used at the dinner table.

You can find it in measuring sets with cups and teaspoons, and recipes often shorten it to "tbsp." In casual cooking, people may also say it when they mean a spoonful from a large spoon, though that is less exact. Most of the time, the word is simply used for recipe amounts.

A tablespoon is a unit of volume used mainly in cooking and baking. In most recipes, it means three teaspoons, which is about 15 milliliters or about half a fluid ounce. You often see it in directions such as "add 1 tablespoon of sugar" or "stir in 2 tablespoons of oil." It helps people measure small amounts more easily than using a cup.

The name comes from the kind of large spoon once used at the table. In the past, spoon sizes were not fully standard, but today the word usually refers to a fixed cooking measure. Recipes often shorten it to "tbsp" or "Tbsp." In everyday speech, someone might also use the word to mean a spoonful from a large spoon, especially in casual cooking, but the exact amount can vary if it is not measured.

There are also small regional differences. In the United States, it is about 14.8 milliliters, while the metric version is 15 milliliters. In Australia, a tablespoon is often 20 milliliters, so recipe sources can matter. Even so, in most English use, the word strongly points to a small cooking measure rather than to the spoon itself.

Outside the kitchen, figurative use is possible, but it is not the main meaning. Most people use the word when talking about food, recipes, and measuring ingredients.