tapas

This term refers to a social dining tradition where small plates are shared among a group, emphasizing variety and communal interaction over a single large meal. It carries a connotation of leisure and conviviality, often associated with bar culture and casual grazing.

Grammatically, the word is a loanword from Spanish that functions as a mass noun or a collective plural in English. Because it describes a category of food, it is typically treated as uncountable; one does not usually refer to a single "tapa" in English conversation, but rather uses partitive phrases like "a plate of tapas" or "a selection of tapas" to specify quantity.