Meanings
nounqatayef pl (plural only)
alternative katayef
- pluralplural onlybakingSweet dumplings filled with cream or nuts, traditionally served in Arab communities during Ramadan.
AS a young student at the multinational Aramco school in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Fadi Jaber, a son of Palestinian refugees, always preferred his American classmates’ cupcakes, brownies and chocolate chip cookies to his mother’s pastries: knafah, qatayef and baklawah.
2009 September 23, Anna Louie Sussman, “Yes, We Speak Cupcake”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022
Origin
- Arabicقَطَايِف
- Englishqatayef
From dialectal Arabic قَطَايِف (qaṭāyif), from قَطَائِف (qaṭāʔif).
More words from Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
qatayef. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qatayef
MLA
“qatayef.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qatayef. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “qatayef,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qatayef.
Source: qatayef on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.