"cold cuts of pork, sausage, etc.," 1858, from French charcuterie, literally "pork-butcher's shop," from charcutier "pork-butcher" (16c.), from obsolete char (Modern French chair) cuite "cooked flesh," from chair "meat" (Old French char, from Latin carnem "flesh," originally "a piece of flesh," from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut") + cuit, past participle of cuire "to cook," from Latin coquere "to cook" (from PIE root *pekw- "to cook, ripen"). Compare French charcutier "pork butcher; meat roaster, seller of cooked (not raw) meat."