What does "beefcake" mean?

Imagery of one or more muscular, well-built men.

Beefcake

Common synonyms include: adonis, aerial photograph, beautiful man, black-and-white photograph, candid photograph, centerfold.

//ˈbiːfˌkeɪk// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Noun

1
Imagery of one or more muscular, well-built men. informal, uncountable
"No look at gay related calendars would be complete without at least a mention of those beefcake spreads. GCN only received one such calendar, the rather disappointing Men of Venice Beach."
2
a photograph of a muscular man in minimal attire wordnet
3
Such a male, especially as seen as physically desirable. countable, informal
"The audience goes bugshit. The security beefcakes separate them and the host gets between them, talking in a voice that is soothing on top, inciteful beneath."
4
A patty made of beef. countable, literally, uncountable
"Beefcake with Burgundy Mushroom Cream"

"When it came to boyfriends, she was more interested in beefcake than brains."

From beef + cake. In sense 1, by analogy with cheesecake (“an image of a sexy young woman”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.