falafel

falafel

See also: faláfel

English

Alternative forms

• felafel, falafil (less common)

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil). Doublet of peepul and pepper.

Pronunciation

falafel balls

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fəˈlɑːfəl/, /fəˈlæfəl/, /fəˈlɒfəl/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /fəˈlɑfəl/
• Rhymes: -æfəl, -ɑːfəl, -ɒfəl
• Hyphenation: fa‧la‧fel

Noun

falafel (countable and uncountable, plural falafels or falafel)

1. (uncountable) A Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas or broad beans and other ingredients. Often served in a pita.
   • 2003, Margo Daly, Rough guide to Australia, 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.

   • 2003, Holly M. Moskowitz, Finding Falafel, page 58:

     I ate lafa — falafel with all the regular stuffings and sauces wrapped in a pizza size pita instead of being stuffed in it. Etai ordered a regular falafel. My lafiz was twice the size of his falafel and although neither of us could finish the lafiz, we embarked on it together.

   There's a stall at the market that sells fantastic falafel.

2. (countable) A pita with falafel balls inside (like a sandwich or a wrap).
   • 2003, Holly M. Moskowitz, Finding Falafel, page 58:

     I ate lafa — falafel with all the regular stuffings and sauces wrapped in a pizza size pita instead of being stuffed in it. Etai ordered a regular falafel. My lafiz was twice the size of his falafel and although neither of us could finish the lafiz, we embarked on it together.

   • 2010, Reza Aslan, How to Win a Cosmic War: Confronting Radical Religions, page 161:

     Here, close-cropped future soldiers would learn how to introduce themselves to strangers, the proper way to order a falafel and a Coke, how to shout Get out of the car.

   • 2012, Giveon Cornfield, Lilian, page 186:

     They decided, sotto voce, to go out for a falafel. […] The falafel itself was incidental: it was the array of salds, pickled and fried vegetables, olives and sauces which one stuffed into the pita that made it such an adventure.

   • 2013, Ruchama King Feuerman, In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, New York Review of Books, →ISBN, page 218:

     A beggar, his head swathed in rags, was eating a falafel, bits of cucumber falling out of the pita's corners. He looked askance as Mustafa lumbered by.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:falafel.
3. (countable) A single falafel ball.

   The stallholder puts salad into an open pita bread, followed by the four falafels, and then liberally covers them with hummus.

Derived terms

• fawaffle

Translations

Middle Eastern food

Arabic: فَلَافِل‎ pl (falāfil), (Egypt) طَعْمِيَّة‎ (ar) f (ṭaʿmiyya) Armenian: ֆալաֆել (falafel) Azerbaijani: falafel, fəlafel Bengali: ফালাফেল (phalaphel) Bulgarian: фала́фел m (faláfel) Catalan: falàfel m Cebuano: palapel, palápel Chinese: Cantonese: 三角豆餅 (saam1 gok3 dau6 beng2) Mandarin: 鷹嘴豆泥球／鹰嘴豆泥球 (yīngzuǐdòuníqiú), 法拉費／法拉费 (fǎlāfèi) Czech: falafel (cs) m Danish: falafel c, falafler c pl Dutch: falafel (nl) m Esperanto: kikerbuloj pl, falafloj pl Finnish: falafel French: falafels (fr) m pl, falafel (fr) m German: Falafel (de) f or n Greek: φαλάφελ (el) n (faláfel), φελάφελ (el) n (feláfel) Hebrew: פָלָאפֶל‎ (he) m (faláfel) Hungarian: falafel (hu) Italian: falafel m or m pl, felafel m or m pl Japanese: ファラフェル (faraferu), ファラーフェル (farāferu) Kannada: ಫ಼ಲಾಫ಼ಲ್ (falāfal) Kazakh: фалафель (falafel) Korean: 팔라펠 (pallapel) Kyrgyz: фалафель (ky) (falafelʹ) Latvian: felāfels m, falafels m Lithuanian: falafeliai m pl Malay: falafel Marathi: फलाफल m (phalāphal), फेलाफिल m (phelāphil), फेलॅफिल m (phelĕphil) Persian: فلافل‎ (fa) (falâfel), طعمیه‎ (ta'mye) Portuguese: faláfel m, falafel m Russian: фала́фель (ru) m (faláfelʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: фалафел m Roman: falafel m Slovak: falafel m, faláfil m Spanish: falafel m, faláfel m Swedish: falafel (sv) c, falaflar (sv) c pl Tajik: фалофил (falofil) Tamil: ஃபிளாபல் (fiḷāpal) Thai: ฟาลาเฟล (faa-laa-feel), ฟะลาฟิล (fá-laa-fil) Turkish: felafel, tamiya Ukrainian: фала́фель m (faláfelʹ) Yiddish: פֿאַלאַפֿעל‎ n (falafel)

pita with falafel balls inside

Chinese: Mandarin: 法拉費皮塔餅／法拉费皮塔饼 (fǎlāfèi pítǎbǐng) Finnish: falafel-pita, falafel-rulla Spanish: falafel m, faláfel m

single falafel ball

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Catalan: falàfel m Chinese: Mandarin: 鷹嘴豆泥球／鹰嘴豆泥球 (yīngzuǐdòuníqiú), 法拉費／法拉费 (fǎlāfèi) Danish: falafel c, falaffel c Dutch: falafelballetje n Esperanto: kikerbulo, falaflo Finnish: falafel-pyörykkä, falafel-pulla French: falafel (fr) m Greek: ρεβυθοκεφτές m (revythokeftés), ρεβιθοκεφτές (el) m (revithokeftés), φαλάφελ (el) n (faláfel), φελάφελ (el) n (feláfel) Italian: falafel m, felafel m Lithuanian: falafelias m Polish: falafel (pl) m Slovak: falafelová guľôčka f Spanish: falafel m, faláfel m Swedish: falafel (sv) c

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Danish

Alternative forms

• falaffel

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [faˈlɑfl̩]

Noun

falafel c (singular definite falaflen, plural indefinite falafler)

1. falafel (single ball)

Declension

Declension of falafel

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	falafel	falaflen	falafler	falaflerne
genitive	falafels	falaflens	falaflers	falaflernes

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɑˈlɑfəl/, /fɑˈlaːfəl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

falafel m (plural falafels, diminutive falafeltje n)

1. falafel

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Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑlɑfel/, [ˈfɑlɑfe̞l]
• Rhymes: -ɑlɑfel
• Syllabification^(key): fa‧la‧fel

Noun

falafel

1. falafel

Declension

Inflection of falafel (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		falafel	falafelit
genitive		falafelin	falafelien
partitive		falafelia	falafeleja
illative		falafeliin	falafeleihin
		singular	plural
nominative		falafel	falafelit
accusative	nom.	falafel	falafelit
	gen.	falafelin
genitive		falafelin	falafelien
partitive		falafelia	falafeleja
inessive		falafelissa	falafeleissa
elative		falafelista	falafeleista
illative		falafeliin	falafeleihin
adessive		falafelilla	falafeleilla
ablative		falafelilta	falafeleilta
allative		falafelille	falafeleille
essive		falafelina	falafeleina
translative		falafeliksi	falafeleiksi
instructive		—	falafelein
abessive		falafelitta	falafeleitta
comitative		—	falafeleineen

Possessive forms of falafel (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	falafelini	falafelimme
2nd person	falafelisi	falafelinne
3rd person	falafelinsa

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Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faˈla.fɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -afɛl
• Syllabification: fa‧la‧fel

Noun

falafel m inan

1. falafel

Declension

Declension of falafel

	singular	plural
nominative	falafel	falafele
genitive	falafela	falafeli
dative	falafelowi	falafelom
accusative	falafel/falafela	falafele
instrumental	falafelem	falafelami
locative	falafelu	falafelach
vocative	falafelu	falafele

Further reading

• falafel in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• falafel in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• faláfel (following the Arabic stress)

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /falaˈfel/ [fa.laˈfel]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: fa‧la‧fel

Noun

falafel m (plural falafeles)

1. falafel

Further reading

• “falafel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل‎ (falāfil).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -affel
• Hyphenation: fa‧la‧fel

Noun

falafel c

1. falafel

Declension

Declension of falafel
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	falafel	falafeln	falaflar	falaflarna
Genitive	falafels	falafelns	falaflars	falaflarnas