Etymology

baba ganoush

ba·ba ga·noush

Today it means: A Middle Eastern dish made from a purée of roasted aubergine (eggplant), garlic, and tahini, often eaten as a dip with bread. Full definition →

Arabic بَابَا غَنُّوج
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The story

  1. Arabic · borrowed fromبَابَا غَنُّوج
  2. English todaybaba ganoush

Borrowed from Arabic بَابَا غَنُّوج (bābā ḡannūj, literally “father of coquetry”), because it was supposedly invented by a member of a royal harem, perhaps to pamper the master: from بَابَا (bābā, “daddy, father, papa”) + غَنُّوج (ḡannūj, “coquettish, coy”) (compare غنج (ḡanija, “to coquet, flirt”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.