Etymology

shawarma

S1H4A1W4A1R1M3A1

Today it means: A Middle Eastern sandwich-like wrap of shaved lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef, or a mixture of these. Full definition →

Arabic شَاوِرْمَا ← Ottoman Turkish چویرمه
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The story

  1. Ottoman Turkish · derived fromچویرمه“something that is spun or turned over”
  2. Arabic · borrowed fromشَاوِرْمَا
  3. English todayshawarma

Borrowed from Arabic شَاوِرْمَا (šāwirmā), شَاوَرْمَا (šāwarmā), from Ottoman Turkish چویرمه (çevirme, “something that is spun or turned over”), verbal noun of چویرمك (çevirmek, “to turn over”) (modern Turkish çevirme and çevirmek).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.