Standard Lemma guide

tallow

noun · verb · 5 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: /ˈtæləʊ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈtæloʊ/
  • rhymes with -æləʊ
  • CMU ARPABET: T AE1 L OW0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A hard animal fat obtained from suet, etc.; used in cooking as well as to make candles, soap and lubricants.

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

verb

Meaning 2

To grease or smear with tallow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To cause to have a large quantity of tallow; to fatten.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • to tallow sheep

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

Of animals: to develop quantities of tallow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

obtained from suet and used in making soap, candles and lubricants

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: animal oil

Narrower terms: beef tallow, dubbin, mutton tallow

History

Etymology

From Middle English talow, talgh, from Old English *tealh, *tealg, (compare Old English tælg, telg (“dye”)), from Proto-West Germanic *talg, from Proto-Germanic *talgaz (compare Dutch talg, German Talg), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to flow”) (compare Middle Irish delt (“dew”), Old Armenian տեղ (teł, “heavy rain”)).

Across languages

Translations

84 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ճարպ (čarp) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Armenian: ճրագու (čragu) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Azerbaijani: piy — hard animal fat obtained
  • Basque: gantz — hard animal fat obtained
  • Basque: koipe bilgor — hard animal fat obtained
  • Basque: ziho — hard animal fat obtained
  • Belarusian: са́ла (sála) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Bulgarian: лой (loj) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Bulgarian: сало (salo) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Catalan: sèu — hard animal fat obtained
  • Chinese Mandarin: 油脂 (yóuzhī) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Chinese Mandarin: 牛脂 (niúzhī) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Czech: lůj — hard animal fat obtained
  • Danish: talg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Dutch: talg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Esperanto: sebo — hard animal fat obtained
  • Estonian: rasv — hard animal fat obtained
  • Faroese: tálg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Finnish: tali — hard animal fat obtained
  • French: suif — hard animal fat obtained
  • Saterland Frisian: Ungel — hard animal fat obtained
  • Friulian: sêf — hard animal fat obtained
  • Friulian: sêv — hard animal fat obtained
  • Galician: sebo — hard animal fat obtained
  • German: Talg — hard animal fat obtained
  • German: Rindertalg — hard animal fat obtained
  • German: Hammeltalg — hard animal fat obtained
  • German: Schöpsentalg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Hebrew: חֵלֶב (ẖélev) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Hittite: 𒍜𒀊𒁍𒊻𒍣 — hard animal fat obtained
  • Hungarian: faggyú — hard animal fat obtained
  • Icelandic: tólg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Italian: sego — hard animal fat obtained
  • Japanese: 獣脂 (jūshi) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Japanese: 牛脂 (gyūshi) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Japanese: ヘット (hetto) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Korean: 수지 (suji) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Central Kurdish: پیو (pîw) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Southern Kurdish: پیم (pîm) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Latin: sēbum — hard animal fat obtained
  • Lushootseed: ʔudaw̓ — hard animal fat obtained
  • Macedonian: лој (loj) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Māori: hinu hipi — hard animal fat obtained
  • Middle English: talow — hard animal fat obtained
  • Norwegian Bokmål: talg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: talg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Old Norse: tolg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Persian: پیه — hard animal fat obtained
  • Polabian: lüj — hard animal fat obtained
  • Polish: wytopiony łój — hard animal fat obtained
  • Portuguese: sebo — hard animal fat obtained
  • Russian: са́ло (sálo) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Serbo-Croatian: ло̑ј — hard animal fat obtained
  • Serbo-Croatian: lȏj — hard animal fat obtained
  • Sicilian: sivu — hard animal fat obtained
  • Slovak: loj — hard animal fat obtained
  • Slovene: loj — hard animal fat obtained
  • Lower Sorbian: łoj — hard animal fat obtained
  • Swedish: talg — hard animal fat obtained
  • Tajik: пиҳ (pih) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Ukrainian: са́ло (sálo) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Ukrainian: лій (lij) — hard animal fat obtained
  • Venetan: seo — hard animal fat obtained
  • Venetan: sef — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: lepin — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: pin — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: piun — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: pim — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: jipalepin — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: jipapin — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: bubalepin — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: bubapin — hard animal fat obtained
  • Volapük: kunapim — hard animal fat obtained
  • Walloon: shû — hard animal fat obtained
  • Macedonian: лои (loi) — to grease or smear with tallow
  • Middle English: talowen — to grease or smear with tallow
  • Polish: smarować łojem — to grease or smear with tallow
  • Polish: posmarować łojem — to grease or smear with tallow
  • Portuguese: ensebar — to grease or smear with tallow
  • Bulgarian: угоявам (ugojavam) — to fatten
  • Macedonian: лојоса (lojosa) — to fatten
  • Polish: tuczyć — to fatten
  • Polish: utuczyć — to fatten
  • Portuguese: engordar — to fatten