Standard Lemma guide

pastrami

noun · 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.

  • UK: /pæˈstɹɑːmi/
  • UK: /pəˈstɹɑːmi/
  • US: pə-sträʹmē
  • US: /pəˈstɹɑːmi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AH0 S T R AA1 M IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A seasoned smoked cut of beef, traditionally made from a navel cut.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

highly seasoned cut of smoked beef

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: beef, boeuf

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish פּאַסטראַמע (pastrame), from Romanian pastramă, from Ottoman Turkish باصدرمه (modern Turkish pastırma), a variation of bastırma (“dried meat”), from root bas- (“to press”). It is sometimes claimed that the origin of the Turkish word is Greek παστώνω (pastóno, “I salt”), from Ancient Greek παστός (pastós, “sprinkled with salt, salted”). The English spelling ending in -mi is probably from the influence of salami.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: basdırma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Bulgarian: пастърма (pastǎrma) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Chinese Mandarin: 五香熏牛肉 (wǔxiāng xūn niúròu) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Chuvash: пустарма (pustarma) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Crimean Tatar: bastırma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Finnish: pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • French: pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Gagauz: pastırma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • German: Pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Greek: παστουρμάς (pastourmás) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Japanese: パストラミ (pasutorami) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Karaim: bastırma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Korean: 파스트라미 (paseuteurami) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Krymchak: bastırma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Polish: pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Portuguese: pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Romanian: pastramă — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Russian: пастрома́ (pastromá) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Russian: пастра́ми (pastrámi) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Spanish: pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Spanish: pastrón — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Tagalog: pastrami — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Turkish: pastırma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Ottoman Turkish: باصدرمه (basdırma) — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Uzbek: bostirma — seasoned smoked cut of beef
  • Yiddish: פּאַסטראַמע (pastrame) — seasoned smoked cut of beef