Definition of DUMPLING

dumpling

Meanings

Plural: dumplings

Noun

  • small balls or strips of boiled or steamed dough
  • dessert made by baking fruit wrapped in pastry
  • A ball of dough that is cooked and may have a filling and/or additional ingredients in the dough.
  • Specifically, a ball of dough used in stews and other sauced dishes; a thick noodle.
  • A ball of dough that is cooked and may have a filling and/or additional ingredients in the dough.
  • Specifically, a food composed of a dough wrapper around a filling.
  • A term of endearment.
  • A piece of excrement.

Origin / Etymology

A folk word, first attested in c. 1600s, apparently from a Norfolk (East Anglian) dialect, of uncertain origin:
* perhaps from some Low German word (compare dümpeln (“bobbing up and down”)),
* or from the rare dialectal adjective dump (“lump, of the consistency of dough”) (first attested in the late 1800s), + -ling (diminutive suffix), although dumpling is recorded much earlier. However, compare dumpy (“short and stout”).

Synonyms

dumpling, dumplings

Scrabble Score: 14

dumpling is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
dumpling is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
dumpling is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 20

dumpling is a valid Words With Friends word