A course is a group of dishes served together during a meal.
A course may include many different dishes served at the same time, as in Service àla française (). The first "course", for example, could include potages, hors dâÂÂà Âuvres, and entrées all set out together. Meals served àla française can include from one to five courses, depending on the way the stages of the meal are grouped together. Beginning in the early 19th century, meals of three courses were the most common arrangement in service àla française.
In contrast, a course may include individual dishes brought to the table sequentially and served separately to each guest, as in Service àla russe (). For example, a meal could have a first course of potage, a second course of a third course of entrées, and so on. The number of courses in meals served àla russe has changed over time, but an underlying sequence of dishesâÂÂbased on the stages of the meal in the older service àla françaiseâÂÂpersisted from the 19th century to World War II and continued for formal meals in a much-reduced form into the 21st century.
The word "course" is derived from the French word cours (run), which came into English in the 14th century. It may have come into use because the food for a banquet had to be brought at speed from a remote kitchen. In the 1420 cookbook Du fait de cuisine, the word "course" is used interchangeably with the word for serving.