From Middle English pate, of uncertain origin.

• IPA: /peɪt/

pate (plural pates)

1. (somewhat, archaic) The head, particularly the top or crown.

   He had a shiny, bald pate.

   • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC ↗, Psalm vij:[16], folio xiij, recto ↗, column 2:

     For his vnhappynes ſhall come vpon his owne heade, ⁊ his wickednes ſhall fall vpon his owne pate.

2. (archaic) Wit, cleverness, cognitive abilities.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC ↗; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i] ↗:

     I am reſolued, tis but a thee yeeres faſt:
     The minde ſhall banquet, though the body pine,
     Fat paunches haue leane pates: and daynty bits
     Make rich the ribbes, but banerout quite the wits.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene i], page 16 ↗, column 1:

     I thank thee for that ieſt; heer’s a garment for’t:
     Wit ſhall not goe vn-rewarded while I am King of this
     Country: Steale by line and leuell, is an excellent paſſe
     of pate: there’s another garment for’t.

• Russian: маку́шка
• Spanish: corona

• Russian: ум
• Spanish: vivaracho

Attested since circa 1700, from French pâté, from Old French - paste, pastée.

• IPA: /ˈpæt.eɪ/, /pæˈteɪ/

pate (plural pates)

1. Alternative spelling of pâté (finely-ground paste of meat, fish, etc.)
2. The interior body, or non-rind portion of cheese, described by its texture, density, and color.

• pasta
• paste
• patty

1. An island in Kenya.
2. Surname.