Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tamale

/təˈmɑ.li/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.48 in modern English

Syllables
ta-ma-le
IPA
/təˈmɑ.li/
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.

name

A city in Ghana, the capital city of the Northern Region.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Back-formation from the plural tamales, derived from Latin American Spanish tamales, plural of tamal, derived from Nahuatl tamalli (“wrapped”), derived from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *tïmaL-. Compare O'odham cemait (“tortilla”), Hopi tuma (“stone griddle for cooking corn flatbread”), Ute tʉ'ma- (“to roast under ashes”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /təˈmɑ.li/
  • British English: /təˈmɑː.liː/

Inflected Forms

tamales (plural)

Phrases

big tamale Chinese tamale hot tamale tamale pie

Frequently Paired Words

tamalera tamalero tamalito

Synonyms

humita tamal

Homonyms

tomalley

Rhymes With

ali finale bali raleigh mali kali diwali pali mallee svengali federale farfalle

Questions

How do you pronounce tamale?
The recorded pronunciation is /təˈmɑ.li/.
What does tamale mean?
A Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.
Where does tamale come from?
It is traced to Spanish.

How to pronounce tamale

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