Bone vs debone

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Grammarist

Bone, when used as a verb, means to remove the bones from meat or fish, usually before cooking. Related words are bones, boned, boning. The word bone comes from the Old English word ban which means tusk or bone.

Debone means to remove the bones from meat or fish, usually before cooking. Related words are debones, deboned, deboning. The word debone is derived from the Old English word ban which means tusk or bone, and the Latin prefix de-, which means do the opposite of, not, when used in conjunction with a verb in English words. Bone, when used as a verb to mean remove bones and debone are interchangeable. The use of the word bone as a verb to mean remove the bones from meat or fish dates back to the sixteenth century, while the word debone was coined sometime mid-twentieth century.

Examples

Skin and bone the chicken and shred or cut into small pieces. (The Tribune-Review)

Lie the boned chicken, skin-side down, on the work surface, opening it out. (The Telegraph)

Nothing too heavy: just grilled boned chicken thighs stuffed with smoked ham, pickles, and piquant cheese and tied with butcher’s string into savory gift packages. (The Huffington Post)

Many people think it’s daunting to make gefilte fish, recalling the daylong process that preoccupied their grandmothers, who had to skin and bone the fish themselves, grind it in a manual grinder, and chop the vegetables without the luxury of a food processor. (The Boston Globe)

Debone fish fillets by using a teaspoon to scrape meat away from skin. (Jackson Hole News & Guide)

Pilgrim’s Pride said it plans to remove or relocate existing processing equipment, then install new equipment that will transform the fresh food service and deboning operation into a debone portioning facility by July 2017. (Food Business News)