Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pilaf

/pɪlɐːf/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.17 in modern English

Syllables: pi-laf
IPA: /pɪlɐːf/

10

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A dish made by browning grain, typically rice, in oil and then cooking it with a seasoned broth, to which meat and/or vegetables may be added.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"My spirits rose as I passed among the tents and savored the aroma of steaming pots of pilaf and the long skewers of shashlyk roasting over the open fires."
"Charlie Vaughn, the tribal chairman, dismissed his critics at the opening as people who are "eating tofu and pilaf and sitting in Phoenix with their plasma-screen TVs"."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish پلاو (modern Turkish pilav), from Classical Persian پلاو (pilāw), from Hindi पुलाव (pulāv)/Urdu پُلاؤ (pulāo), from Sauraseni Prakrit *𑀧𑀼𑀮𑀸𑀕 (*pulāga), from Sanskrit पुलाक (pulāka), which is probably of Dravidian origin. Akin to Tamil புழுக்கு (puḻukku, “cooked rice”). Doublet of pulao.

Origin

Source language: Hindi

Word Breakdown

Root: پلاو, पुलाव, پُلاؤ, *𑀧𑀼𑀮𑀸𑀕, पुलाक, -

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /pɪlɐːf/
British English: /piːlɑːf/

Usage

Inflected Forms

pilafs (plural) pilaff (alternative) pillaf (alternative) pillaff (alternative) pillaw (alternative) pilao (alternative) pilau (alternative) pilav (alternative) plov (alternative) polao (alternative) pulao (alternative) pulau (alternative)

Synonyms

pilaff pilau pilaw

Rhymes With

cough hof mof joffe coif schaaf asaf quaff taaffe haaf

Questions

How do you pronounce pilaf?: The recorded pronunciation is /pɪlɐːf/.
What does pilaf mean?: A dish made by browning grain, typically rice, in oil and then cooking it with a seasoned broth, to which meat and/or vegetables may be added.
Where does pilaf come from?: It is traced to Hindi.

How to pronounce pilaf

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “pilaf”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/pɪlɐːf/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “pilaf”.
Repeat and practice — Say “pilaf” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.