Standard Lemma guide

falafel

noun · 4 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.

  • UK: /fəˈlɑːfəl/
  • UK: /fəˈlæfəl/
  • UK: /fəˈlɒfəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /fəˈlɑfəl/
  • rhymes with -æfəl
  • rhymes with -ɑːfəl
  • rhymes with -ɒfəl
  • CMU ARPABET: F AH0 L AA1 F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas or broad beans and other ingredients, often served in a pita.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • There's a stall at the market that sells fantastic falafel.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A pita with falafel balls as a filling.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A single falafel ball.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • The stallholder puts salad into an open pita bread, followed by the four falafels, and then liberally covers them with hummus.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

small croquette of mashed chick peas or fava beans seasoned with sesame seeds

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: felafel

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: dish

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل (falāfil). Doublet of peepul and pepper.

Across languages

Translations

107 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: فَلَافِل pl طَعْمِيَّة (Levant) — Middle Eastern food
  • Armenian: ֆալաֆել (falafel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Azerbaijani: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Azerbaijani: fəlafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Bengali: ফালাফেল (phalaphel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Bulgarian: фала́фел (faláfel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Catalan: falàfel — Middle Eastern food
  • Cebuano: palapel — Middle Eastern food
  • Cebuano: palápel — Middle Eastern food
  • Chinese Cantonese: 三角豆餅 /三角豆饼 (saam1 gok3 dau6 beng2) — Middle Eastern food
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鷹嘴豆泥球 /鹰嘴豆泥球 (yīngzuǐdòuníqiú) — Middle Eastern food
  • Chinese Mandarin: 法拉費 /法拉费 (fǎlāfèi) — Middle Eastern food
  • Czech: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Danish: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Danish: falafler — Middle Eastern food
  • Dutch: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Esperanto: kikerbuloj — Middle Eastern food
  • Esperanto: falafloj — Middle Eastern food
  • Finnish: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • French: falafels — Middle Eastern food
  • French: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • German: Falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Greek: φαλάφελ (faláfel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Greek: φελάφελ (feláfel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Hebrew: פָלָאפֶל (falafel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Hindi: फ़लाफ़ल (falāfal) — Middle Eastern food
  • Hindi: फ़लाफ़िल (falāfil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Hungarian: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Italian: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Italian: felafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Japanese: ファラフェル (faraferu) — Middle Eastern food
  • Japanese: ファラーフェル (farāferu) — Middle Eastern food
  • Kannada: ಫ಼ಲಾಫ಼ಲ್ (falāfal) — Middle Eastern food
  • Kazakh: фалафель (falafel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Korean: 팔라펠 (pallapel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Kyrgyz: фалафель (falafel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Latvian: felāfels — Middle Eastern food
  • Latvian: falafels — Middle Eastern food
  • Lithuanian: falafeliai — Middle Eastern food
  • Malay: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Marathi: फलाफल (phalāphal) — Middle Eastern food
  • Marathi: फेलाफिल (phelāphil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Marathi: फेलॅफिल (phelĕphil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Dari: فَلَافِل (falāfil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Iranian Persian: فَلافِل (falâfel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Polish: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Portuguese: faláfel — Middle Eastern food
  • Portuguese: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Romanian: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Russian: фала́фель (faláfelʹ) — Middle Eastern food
  • Serbo-Croatian: фалафел — Middle Eastern food
  • Serbo-Croatian: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Slovak: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Slovak: faláfil — Middle Eastern food
  • Spanish: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Spanish: faláfel — Middle Eastern food
  • Swedish: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Swedish: falaflar — Middle Eastern food
  • Tajik: фалофил (falofil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Tamil: ஃபிளாபல் (fiḷāpal) — Middle Eastern food
  • Thai: ฟาลาเฟล (faa-laa-feel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Thai: ฟะลาฟิล (fá-laa-fil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Turkish: felafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Turkish: tamiya — Middle Eastern food
  • Ukrainian: фала́фель (faláfelʹ) — Middle Eastern food
  • Urdu: فَلَافِل (falāfil) — Middle Eastern food
  • Uzbek: falafel — Middle Eastern food
  • Yiddish: פֿאַלאַפֿעל (falafel) — Middle Eastern food
  • Chinese Mandarin: 法拉費皮塔餅 /法拉费皮塔饼 (fǎlāfèi pítǎbǐng) — pita with falafel balls inside
  • Finnish: falafel-pita — pita with falafel balls inside
  • Finnish: falafel-rulla — pita with falafel balls inside
  • Polish: falafel — pita with falafel balls inside
  • Spanish: falafel — pita with falafel balls inside
  • Spanish: faláfel — pita with falafel balls inside
  • Arabic: فَلَافِل (falāfil) — single falafel ball
  • Bengali: ফালাফেল (phalaphel) — single falafel ball
  • Catalan: falàfel — single falafel ball
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鷹嘴豆泥球 /鹰嘴豆泥球 (yīngzuǐdòuníqiú) — single falafel ball
  • Chinese Mandarin: 法拉費 /法拉费 (fǎlāfèi) — single falafel ball
  • Danish: falafel — single falafel ball
  • Danish: falaffel — single falafel ball
  • Dutch: falafelballetje — single falafel ball
  • Esperanto: kikerbulo — single falafel ball
  • Esperanto: falaflo — single falafel ball
  • Finnish: falafel-pyörykkä — single falafel ball
  • Finnish: falafel-pulla — single falafel ball
  • French: falafel — single falafel ball
  • Greek: ρεβυθοκεφτές (revythokeftés) — single falafel ball
  • Greek: ρεβιθοκεφτές (revithokeftés) — single falafel ball
  • Greek: φαλάφελ (faláfel) — single falafel ball
  • Greek: φελάφελ (feláfel) — single falafel ball
  • Hindi: फ़लाफ़ल (falāfal) — single falafel ball
  • Hindi: फ़लाफ़िल (falāfil) — single falafel ball
  • Italian: falafel — single falafel ball
  • Italian: felafel — single falafel ball
  • Kannada: ಫ಼ಲಾಫ಼ಲ್ (falāfal) — single falafel ball
  • Lithuanian: falafelias — single falafel ball
  • Marathi: फलाफल (phalāphal) — single falafel ball
  • Marathi: फेलाफिल (phelāphil) — single falafel ball
  • Marathi: फेलॅफिल (phelĕphil) — single falafel ball
  • Polish: falafel — single falafel ball
  • Slovak: falafelová guľôčka — single falafel ball
  • Spanish: falafel — single falafel ball
  • Spanish: faláfel — single falafel ball
  • Swedish: falafel — single falafel ball
  • Tamil: ஃபிளாபல் (fiḷāpal) — single falafel ball
  • Urdu: فَلَافِل (falāfil) — single falafel ball