Falafel
Origin
From Arabic ÙلاÙÙ„, the plural of ÙÙ„ÙÙ„ (filfil, "pepper"),
American Heritage Dictionary, 5th edition (2011), s.v. falafel http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=falafel&submit.x=38&submit.y=12
which is preceded by and derived from either:
- Persian پلپل, from Sanskrit पिपà¥à¤ªà¤²à¥€ (pippalÄ«, "long pepper"), or
- Aramaic (pilpÄl, "small round thing, peppercorn") derived from (palpÄ“l, "to be round, roll").
Full definition of falafel
Noun
falafel
(countable and uncountable; plural falafels)- (uncountable) A Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas and other ingredients. Often served in a pita.There's a stall at the market that sells fantastic falafel.
- (countable) A pita with falafel balls inside.
- 2003, Margo Daly, Rough guide to Australia, %22falafels%22+australia+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=O7dNT_DOI4qJmQXw_ZEE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22falafel%22|%22falafels%22%20australia%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 51,Lebanese restaurants are especially good for vegetarians, with falafel rolls (pitta bread stuffed with chickpea patties, hummus and tabbouleh) making an inexpensive, filling meal.
- (countable) A single falafel ball.The stallholder puts salad into an open pitta bread, followed by the four falafels and then liberally covers them with hummus.