tapas

tapas

See also: tapás

English

WOTD – 12 October 2022

Etymology 1

A selection of tapas.

From Spanish tapas, the plural of tapa (“appetizer, tapa; cap, lid (cover of a container)”) (from the fact that plates of tapas were originally placed on the tops of glasses of alcoholic beverages as lids),[1] from Gothic *𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰 (*tappa), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug; tap”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tap.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæpæs/, /-pəs/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtæpəs/, /ˈtɑː-/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Audio (Northern California)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tap‧as

Noun

tapas pl (normally plural, singular tapa)

1. A variety of Spanish small savoury food items or snacks such as croquettes, cured meat, potato salad, and seafood, originally served with sherry and now often with other alcoholic beverages as well.

   The Spanish restaurant’s tapas is so tasty.

   Tapas are so tasty.

   • 1986, Jeff Smith, “The Tapas Buffet (Spain)”, in The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, page 88:

     The snacks are called tapas because in the old days a piece of toast was served, too, so that you might have a "top" on your glass of sherry, a lid that would prevent the flies from getting into the glass.

   • 2013, Joyce Goldstein, “Introduction”, in Tapas: Sensational Small Plates from Spain, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 8:

     Most food scholars agree that the tapas tradition originated in the wine-growing regions of Andalusia, eventually spreading throughout the country. The Moors (Muslim Arabs), who dominated Spain from the beginning of the eighth century until the end of the fifteenth century, settled in the same area, and their meze tradition undoubtedly had an influence on the rise of the tapa.

Usage notes

Tapas takes plural agreement when parsed as a group of small dishes, or singular agreement when parsed as a single order or set dish.

Hypernyms

• small plates

Coordinate terms

• pintxos

Derived terms

• tapaslike

Translations

variety of Spanish small savoury food items or snacks, originally served with sherry and now often with other alcoholic beverages as well

Armenian: տապաս (hy) (tapas) Bulgarian: тапас (tapas) Catalan: tapes (ca) f pl Chinese: Mandarin: 塔帕斯 (tǎpàsī) Czech: tapas Danish: tapas Dutch: tapas (nl) f pl, tapa's (nl) f pl Finnish: tapas (fi) French: tapas (fr) f pl Galician: tapas f pl Georgian: ტაპასი (ṭaṗasi) Greek: μεζές (el) m (mezés) Hebrew: טאפס‎ Hungarian: tapas Japanese: タパス Korean: 타파스 (tapaseu) Norwegian: Bokmål: tapas (no) Nynorsk: tapas Polish: tapas m Portuguese: tapas (pt) f pl, petiscos m pl Russian: та́пас (ru) (tápas) Cyrillic: тапас Spanish: tapas (es) f pl Swedish: tapas (sv) Ukrainian: та́пас (tápas)

Etymology 2

From Sanskrit तप् (tap, “heat; to be hot”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tep- (“to be warm or hot”). Doublet of tepid.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæpæs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtæpəs/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈθəpəs/
• Hyphenation: tap‧as

Noun

tapas (uncountable)

1. (Hinduism, Jainism) (The practice of) asceticism and self-discipline.

Translations

(the practice of) asceticism and self-discipline

Bengali: তপস (tôpôsô) Chinese: Mandarin: 苦行 (zh) (kǔxíng) Hindi: तप (hi) (tap) Japanese: 苦行 (ja) (くぎょう, kugyō) Kannada: ತಪಸ್ಸು (kn) (tapassu) Newar: तपः (tapa:) Oriya: ତପସ୍ୟା (or) (tôpôsya) Russian: та́пас (ru) (tápas) Sanskrit: तपः (sa) (tapaḥ) Tamil: தவம் (ta) (tavam) Telugu: తపస్సు (te) (tapassu) Thai: ตบะ Ukrainian: та́пас (tápas)

Noun

tapas

1. plural of tapa

References

1. “tapas, n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019; “tapas, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
2. “tapas, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2022.

Further reading

• tapas on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• tapas (Indian religions) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ataps, pasta, patas

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Finnish

Etymology

From Spanish tapas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑpɑs/, [ˈt̪ɑpɑs̠]
• Rhymes: -ɑpɑs
• Syllabification^(key): ta‧pas

Noun

tapas

1. An individual item of tapas; mostly used in plural.

   Mennään syömään tapaksia.

   Let's go and eat some tapas.

Declension

Inflection of tapas (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation)
nominative		tapas	tapakset
genitive		tapaksen	tapasten tapaksien
partitive		tapasta	tapaksia
illative		tapakseen	tapaksiin
		singular	plural
nominative		tapas	tapakset
accusative	nom.	tapas	tapakset
	gen.	tapaksen
genitive		tapaksen	tapasten tapaksien
partitive		tapasta	tapaksia
inessive		tapaksessa	tapaksissa
elative		tapaksesta	tapaksista
illative		tapakseen	tapaksiin
adessive		tapaksella	tapaksilla
ablative		tapakselta	tapaksilta
allative		tapakselle	tapaksille
essive		tapaksena	tapaksina
translative		tapakseksi	tapaksiksi
instructive		—	tapaksin
abessive		tapaksetta	tapaksitta
comitative		—	tapaksineen

Possessive forms of tapas (type vastaus)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	tapakseni	tapaksemme
2nd person	tapaksesi	tapaksenne
3rd person	tapaksensa

Anagrams

• Tapsa, pasta

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French

Verb

tapas

1. second-person singular past historic of taper

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Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtapas/
• Hyphenation: ta‧pas

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tapas (first-person possessive tapasku, second-person possessive tapasmu, third-person possessive tapasnya)

1. coir for washing kitchen utensils, made of coarse-textured synthetic fibers.

Etymology 2

From English tapas, from Spanish tapas, plural of tapa, with original sense of “top”.

Noun

tapas (first-person possessive tapasku, second-person possessive tapasmu, third-person possessive tapasnya)

1. (cooking) tapas: a variety of Spanish small food items or snacks, originally served with sherry.

Further reading

• “tapas” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

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Portuguese

Verb

tapas

1. second-person singular present indicative of tapar

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Spanish

Noun

tapas f pl

1. plural of tapa

Verb

tapas

1. second-person singular present indicative of tapar

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Tagalog

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ta‧pas
• IPA^(key): /ˈtapas/, [ˈta.pɐs] (noun)
• IPA^(key): /taˈpas/, [tɐˈpas] (adjective)

Noun

tapas

1. act of dehusking a coconut (usually with a sharp bolo)

   Synonyms: talop, pagtapas, pagtatapas

2. act of cutting off the top evenly (of a tree)

   Synonyms: palas, pagpalas

Derived terms

• pagtapas
• pagtatapas
• tapasan
• tapasin

 

Adjective

tapás

1. lopped or cut off evenly

   Synonym: palas

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ta‧pas
• IPA^(key): /taˈpas/, [tɐˈpas]

Noun

tapás

1. a kind of typical river fish