Phrase guide

al dente

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /æl ˈdɛn.teɪ/
  • /æl ˈdɛn.ti/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛnteɪ
  • rhymes with -ɛnti

1

adj

Meaning 1

Firm to the bite, cooked just right.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: usually

Qualifier: vegetables; rice; beans; vegetables; rice; beans

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

of pasta cooked so as to be firm when eaten

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian al dente (literally “to the tooth”).

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: al dente — firm
  • Chinese Cantonese: 彈牙 /弹牙 (daan6 ngaa4) — firm
  • Chinese Mandarin: 耐嚼 (nàijiáo) — firm
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有嚼勁 /有嚼劲 — firm
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有嚼勁 /有嚼劲 (yǒu jiáojìn) — firm
  • Dutch: al dente — firm
  • Finnish: al dente — firm
  • Finnish: kovankypsä — firm
  • French: al dente — firm
  • Galician: al dente — firm
  • German: bissfest — firm
  • German: al dente — firm
  • Greek: αλ ντέντε (al nténte) — firm
  • Hindi: अल देन्ते (al dente) — firm
  • Indonesian: al dente — firm
  • Italian: al dente — firm
  • Japanese: アルデンテ (arudente) — firm
  • Polish: al dente — firm
  • Russian: аль дэ́нтэ (alʹ dɛ́ntɛ) — firm
  • Serbo-Croatian: ал денте — firm
  • Serbo-Croatian: al dente — firm
  • Swedish: al dente — firm