Standard Lemma guide

kofta

noun · 1 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: /ˈkɒftə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈkɑːftə/
  • US: /ˈkɔːftə/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various spicy meatball or meatloaf dishes of the Middle East, Caucasus, South Asia, and the Balkans.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian کوفْتَه (kōfta, “ground meat”), from کوفْتَن (kōftan, “to grind, break, beat”).

Across languages

Translations

53 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: qofte — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Arabic: كُفْتَة (kufta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Armenian: քյուֆթա (kʻyuftʻa) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Assamese: কোপ্তা (küpta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Azerbaijani: küftə — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Belarusian: кюфта́ (kjuftá) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Bengali: কোফতা (kōphta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Bulgarian: кюфте́ (kjufté) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 四喜丸子 (sìxǐwánzǐ) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Crimean Tatar: küfte — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Dutch: köfte — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Esperanto: kofto — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Finnish: kofta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • French: kafta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Gagauz: küftä — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Georgian: გუფთა (gupta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Greek: κεφτές (keftés) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Greek: κιοφτές (kioftés) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Hebrew: כופתה — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Hebrew: כֻּפְתָּה (kuftá) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Hindi: कोफ़्ता (koftā) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Indonesian: kofte — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Japanese: キョフテ (kyofute) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Japanese: コフタ (kofuta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Kannada: ಕೋಫ಼್ತಾ (kōftā) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Kazakh: кюфта (küfta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Kazakh: күпта (küpta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Korean: 코프타 (kopeuta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Kumyk: кюпте (küpte) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Northern Kurdish: kufte — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Lithuanian: kofta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Macedonian: ќофте (ḱofte) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Malayalam: കൊഫ്ത (kophta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Marathi: कोफ्ता (kophtā) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Mongolian: көфтэ (köfte) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Mongolian: тефтель (teftelʹ) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Dari: کوفْتَه (kōfta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Iranian Persian: کوفْتِه (kufte) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Polish: kofta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Portuguese: cafta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Romanian: chiftea — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Russian: кюфта́ (kjuftá) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Russian: те́фтели (téfteli) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Serbo-Croatian: ћу̀фта — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Serbo-Croatian: ćùfta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Spanish: kofta — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Tajik: куфта (kufta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Tajik: кӯфта (küfta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Turkish: köfte — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Ottoman Turkish: كوفته (köfte) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Ukrainian: кюфта́ (kjuftá) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Urdu: کوفْتَہ (kofta) — meatball or meatloaf dish
  • Uzbek: koʻfte — meatball or meatloaf dish