Seitan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈseɪtÉ™n/
• Rhymes: -eɪtÉ™n
• Homophones: Satan

Origin

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term was coined in Japanese by philosopher George Ohsawa in the early 1960s to refer to wheat gluten as used in Ohsawa's macrobiotic system of cooking and health. The exact derivation is uncertain. The first syllable may be from 生 (sei, "be, become"), 正 (sei, "proper, correct"), or 製 (sei, "made of"), while the second syllable is from 蛋. In Japan, wheat gluten itself is usually referred to as 麩 (fu, "wheat bran, gluten"), while seitan in particular is generally written in katakana as .

Full definition of seitan

Noun

1. Wheat gluten.
• 2007, July 13, C. J. Hughes, Amid the Ruins of the Bungalow Era, a Weekenders’ Revival, Fifty people filled the dining room on a recent Saturday night, listening to a man pluck a modernized washtub bass while they ...
  ordered from a diverse menu that included vegan options like wheatgrass shots ($4) and seitan cutlets ($16).

Derived terms

• seitanic

Anagrams

• tenias
• tisane