dishes and plates

[Fajr]

Hello!

What's the difference between dishes and plates?
When we are in the resturant, can we say one more dish please or one more plate please?

Thanks

[Mister Micawber]

What are you asking for in the restaurant, an empty plate/dish or another dish (a prepared food)?
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Fajr]

I mean an empty plate
so we use plate and dish for empty one but dish for a prepared food

[Mister Micawber]

Yes. I think some think of a plate as larger than a dish (and smaller than a platter), but to most they are interchangeable.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Peterkua]

In a restaurant, we usually say "Can I have an extra plate?" instead of "Can I have an extra dish". A "dish" usually refers to food served in a dish, although it can be used to refer to a plate.

And yes, a dish is usually bigger than a plate.

Peter Kua

[Prezbucky]

Sometimes "dish" is used to mean "bowl", as in "a dish of ice cream". (ice cream is generally served in a bowl of some sort if not in a cone...).

Sometimes "dish" is used to mean "course" or entrée: "How many dishes are we ordering tonight, honey? I think we can make do with one dish apiece."

If a dish is a single-serve entrée, it generally is served on a plate... in which case the dish IS a plate. If the entrée is soup, or some salads, the dish will likely be a bowl.

Then there's "the dishes", as in "Please help me with the dishes." Here "dishes" refers to all things being washed/dried -- plates, bowls, skillets, spoons, forks, whatever.

So a dish can be a course/entrée of food or the vessel in which (or on which) it is served. Hopefully at least a little bit of that wasn't rhetorical. hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.