Standard Lemma guide

seitan

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

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  • /ˈseɪtən/
  • /ˈseɪtɑːn/
  • /ˈseɪtæn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪtən
  • rhymes with -eɪtɑːn
  • rhymes with -eɪtæn
  • homophone: Satan

1

noun

Meaning 1

Specially processed wheat gluten, used as a protein-rich food.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Romaji of the Japanese セイタン which was coined by philosopher George Ohsawa in 1961. Ohsawa also occasionally used the kanji term 生蛋 from 生 (“fresh; raw”) and 蛋, the first character in 蛋白 (tanpaku, “protein”). In Japan, wheat gluten itself is usually referred to as 麩 (fu, “wheat bran, gluten”), while seitan in particular is generally written in katakana as セイタン. Another common term for this is グルテンミート (“gluten meat”).

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 麵筋 /面筋 (miànjīn) — wheat gluten
  • Esperanto: sejtano — wheat gluten
  • Finnish: seitan — wheat gluten
  • French: seitan — wheat gluten
  • Galician: seitán — wheat gluten
  • German: Seitan — wheat gluten
  • Hungarian: szejtán — wheat gluten
  • Japanese: セイタン (seitan) — wheat gluten
  • Japanese: グルテンミート (gurutenmīto) — wheat gluten
  • Korean: 밀고기 (milgogi) — wheat gluten
  • Polish: seitan — wheat gluten
  • Portuguese: seitan — wheat gluten
  • Spanish: seitán — wheat gluten