Meaning & use
billi bi
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
A smooth, creamy French soup made from mussels cooked in white wine with shallots and cream, usually served cold or hot.
Grammar: Usually uncountable, as a type of soup: a bowl of billi bi.
Patterns
- a bowl of billi bi
We began dinner with a bowl of creamy billi bi.
The chef's billi bi is flavored with saffron and white wine.
Billi bi is a classic starter at seafood restaurants in Brittany.
Common combinations
- a bowl of billi bi
- She ordered a bowl of billi bi and fresh bread.
- creamy billi bi
- The creamy billi bi was rich with shellfish flavor.
- serve billi bi
- The brasserie serves billi bi chilled in summer.
- billi bi with saffron
- I made billi bi with saffron for dinner guests.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mussel soup
- Mussel soup is a general description, while billi bi is a specific creamy recipe with wine and cream.
- chowder
- A chowder is typically thicker and chunkier, often with potatoes, while billi bi is smooth and strained.
- bisque
- A bisque is a smooth creamy soup usually made with crustaceans such as lobster, while billi bi uses mussels.
Word family
Commonly confused: billi bi or bouillabaisse?
billi bi vs bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse is a chunky Provençal fish stew, quite different from the smooth cream-based billi bi.
Practice
The creamy French soup made with mussels and white wine is called ____.
Choose one answer.
Billi bi is the mussel soup. Gazpacho is Spanish cold tomato soup, minestrone is Italian vegetable soup, and borscht is a beet soup.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “billi bi”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.