Soup spoon

A soup spoon is a type of spoon with a large or rounded bowl, used for consuming soup. The term can either refer to the British soup spoon or the Chinese spoon.

Chinese

Typical Chinese soup spoons

The Chinese soup spoon, usually ceramic and of a distinct shape, can vary in size from normal soup spoon size to near-platter size.

Western

Western soup spoon

The British soup spoon is the size of a dessert spoon (i.e., smaller than a tablespoon), but with a deeper, more circular bowl for holding liquid. Modern soup spoons are usually stainless steel or silver plated, but in the past wooden and horn spoons were more common. The idea of including a separate soup spoon in a table setting originated in the eighteenth century, when the bowl shapes varied widely, deep or shallow, oval, pointed, egg-shaped or circular. Spoon shapes became more standardized in nineteenth century silverware.^[1]

The rounded form of soup spoon is not generally used in continental Europe, where an oval shaped spoon is traditionally used.

Notes