A cut of meat: the pancreas or the thymus gland of a young animal, usually a calf or a lamb, cooked and eaten. It is soft, pale, and mild — nothing like steak — and is usually cooked in small pieces, often fried until the outside is crisp. It is a delicacy, which means it is treated as something special and often costs a lot in good restaurants, particularly French ones. It is not everyday food in English-speaking countries, and many people who see it on a menu do not know what it is. You almost always meet it in the plural: sweetbreads. The word belongs to the group of names English uses to make organ meat sound less alarming — the way tripe, offal and sweetbread all quietly avoid saying which body part they mean.

小牛（或小羊）的胸腺／胰臟，法式料理裡的高級食材，中文常直接說「小牛胸腺」；菜單上有時音譯或直接寫原文。台灣人熟悉的內臟料理裡沒有完全對應的東西，不是腰子也不是肝。