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
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Australian:/pɪlɐːf/
Received-Pronunciation:/piːlɑːf/
General-American:pee-lăf
General-American:/piːlæf/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:P IY2 L AA1 F
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A dish made by browning grain, typically rice, in oil and then cooking it with a seasoned broth, to which meat and/or vegetables may be added.
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
rice cooked in well-seasoned broth with onions or celery and usually poultry or game or shellfish and sometimes tomatoes
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pilaff, pilau, pilaw
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: dish
Narrower terms: bulgur pilaf
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish پلاو (modern Turkish pilav), from Classical Persian پلاو (pilāw), from Hindi पुलाव (pulāv)/Urdu پُلاؤ (pulāo), from Sauraseni Prakrit *𑀧𑀼𑀮𑀸𑀕 (*pulāga), from Sanskrit पुलाक (pulāka), which is probably of Dravidian origin. Akin to Tamil புழுக்கு (puḻukku, “cooked rice”). Doublet of pulao.
Across languages
Translations
87 source translations are retained for this English entry.
