From a thin blade to a thin egg — the omelet's name traces back to Latin for a slender plate, through one of French's wildest sound transformations.
A dish of beaten eggs cooked in a pan and typically folded around a filling.
From French omelette, alteration of alumette, from alumelle meaning a thin plate or blade, from Latin lamella meaning thin plate — describing the flat, thin shape of the cooked egg Key roots: lamella (Latin: "thin plate").
Omelet derives from a Latin word for a thin blade — describing the flat shape of the cooked egg. The word underwent one of French's most dramatic sound changes: Latin lamella became alumelle, then alumette, then amelette, then omelette — the initial L somehow becoming an O through a series of mishearings and reinterpretations.