A colander is a bowl-shaped kitchen tool covered with small holes, used for draining water from food. When you cook pasta, you pour it into a colander in the sink, and the water runs through the holes while the noodles stay inside. The same works for rinsing berries, washing lettuce, or draining canned beans.

Colanders usually have handles on both sides and sometimes small feet to keep them steady in the sink. The holes can be tiny circles or larger slots, depending on what the colander is designed to drain. Some are made of metal, others of plastic or ceramic.

The word comes from the Latin colare, meaning “to strain.” You might also hear the similar word strainer, which works the same way but usually has finer mesh and a long handle, like a small net on a stick. A colander is what you'd use for bigger jobs, like draining a whole pot of spaghetti, while a strainer works better for things like tea leaves or separating seeds from lemon juice.