sirloin
/ˈsəːlɔɪn
/noun [mass noun]
Good-quality beef cut from the loin: [as modifier]: fresh sirloin steaks...
- The platters were heaped with beef fillet, sirloin, rump and kidneys as well as chicken, lamb and pork.
- For his next trick, he cranked up the heat and put on skewers of sirloin beef fillet and halloumi cheese.
- A bowl of white rice and a small serving of fish soup with seaweed follow, just in time to accompany the main dish, be it sirloin or tenderloin steak, mutton, chicken or cod.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French (see sur-1, loin).
The name sirloin for a choice cut of beef dates from the late Middle Ages. It came from French, and the first element is from French sur ‘above’, because it is the upper part of the loin. The later spelling with sir- has led to false associations with sir and various accounts of a king knighting the roast for its excellence, dubbing it ‘Sir Loin’. A mid 17th-century source mentions a tradition that the monarch in question was Henry VIII. Jonathan Swift, on the other hand, names James I, while yet another account attributes the action to Charles II. We can be reasonably certain that it was none of them.