seitan

S1E1I1T1A1N1
/ˈseɪtən//ˈseɪtɑːn//ˈseɪtæn/

noun

Specially processed wheat gluten, used as a protein-rich food.

OriginJapanese セイタン ← German Eiweißinflu.? ← Middle Chinese 蛋白 →
UncommonScrabble 6
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounseitan (usually uncountable, plural seitans)

plural seitans

  1. uncountableusuallySpecially processed wheat gluten, used as a protein-rich food.

    Pan-simmer baked seitan cutlets in Basic Broth (page 20) or other seasoned stock for 15 minutes.

    1994, Leonard Jacobs, Cooking with Seitan: The Complete Vegetarian "wheat-meat" Cookbook, Penguin, →ISBN, page 28
    2 more examples

    Fifty people […] ordered from a diverse menu that included vegan options like wheatgrass shots ($4) and seitan cutlets ($16).

    2007 July 13, C. J. Hughes, “Amid the Ruins of the Bungalow Era, a Weekenders’ Revival”, in New York Times

    Morningstar Farms makes two vegan seitans called Meal Starters, chicken and beef flavor, already well seasoned.

    2009, Nancy Robinson, Around the World Vegan Style, page 271

Origin

  1. Proto-Sino-Tibetan*sreŋ
  2. Middle Chinese生 (sraeng(H))
  3. Japanese生 (sei)
  4. Middle Chinese蛋白
  5. GermanEiweißinflu.?
  6. Japanese蛋(白) (tan(paku))
  7. Japaneseせいたんinflu.
  8. Japaneseセイタン
  9. Englishseitan

Romaji of the Japanese セイタン which was coined by philosopher George Ohsawa in 1961. Ohsawa also occasionally used the kanji term 生蛋 from 生 (“fresh; raw”) and 蛋, the first character in 蛋白 (tanpaku, “protein”). In Japan, wheat gluten itself is usually referred to as 麩 (fu, “wheat bran, gluten”), while seitan in particular is generally written in katakana as セイタン. Another common term for this is グルテンミート (“gluten meat”).

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 麵筋 /面筋
  • 麵筋 /面筋 (miànjīn)wheat gluten
Esperanto sejtano
  • sejtanowheat gluten
Finnish seitan
  • seitanwheat gluten
French seitan
  • seitanwheat gluten
German Seitan
  • Seitanwheat gluten
Hungarian szejtán
  • szejtánwheat gluten
Japanese セイタン, グルテンミート
  • セイタン (seitan)wheat gluten
  • グルテンミート (gurutenmīto)wheat gluten
Korean 밀고기
  • 밀고기 (milgogi)wheat gluten
Polish seitan
  • seitanwheat gluten
Portuguese seitan
  • seitanwheat gluten
Spanish seitán
  • seitánwheat gluten

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with seitan

ClaytonsatanLeightonDraytonstraightenGaytonthetangreatenorvietan
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Satan

Anagrams

sentaiEastintisaneAnstieEtsianSetian
Cite this entry
APA

seitan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seitan

MLA

“seitan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seitan. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “seitan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seitan.

Source: seitan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.