dumpling

The story

A folk word, first attested in c. 1600s, apparently from a Norfolk (East Anglian) dialect, of uncertain origin: * perhaps from some Low German word (compare dümpeln (“bobbing up and down”)), * or from the rare dialectal adjective dump (“lump, of the consistency of dough”) (first attested in the late 1800s), + -ling (diminutive suffix), although dumpling is recorded much earlier. However, compare dumpy (“short and stout”).

First known use, by meaning

• from 17th c. Specifically, a ball of dough used in stews and other sauced dishes; a thick noodle.
• from 17th c. Specifically, a food composed of a dough wrapper around a filling.