Meanings
plural submarine sandwiches
- CanadaUSA sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll split lengthwise; it typically contains meats and cheeses.
"Well, honey, you can have spaghetti and meat balls," said the girl. "But why don't you order a submarine sandwich? My, that's good! Mmm." "What is a submarine sandwich?" "Well, a submarine sandwich comes two ways, the 15¢ one is seven inches long, and for a quarter you get one twelve inches long—"
1942, Ludwig Bemelmans, “Vacation”, in I Love You, I Love You, I Love You!, New York: Viking Press, pages 147–148Synonyms: grinder, hero sandwich, hero, hoagie, poor boy, po' boy, spuckie, torpedo
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll split lengthwise; it typically contains meats and cheeses.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From its resemblance to a submarine (underwater boat). From the US, circa 1930s. World War II marked the beginning of the term's widespread use in print.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 潛艇三文治 /潜艇三文治
- 潛艇三文治 /潜艇三文治 (cim⁴ teng⁵ saam¹ man⁴ zi⁶)submarine sandwich
Chinese Mandarin 潛艇三明治 /潜艇三明治, 潛艇堡 /潜艇堡
- 潛艇三明治 /潜艇三明治 (qiántǐng sānmíngzhì)submarine sandwich
- 潛艇堡 /潜艇堡 (qiántǐngbǎo)submarine sandwich
Finnish sämpylä, subi
- sämpyläsubmarine sandwich
- subisubmarine sandwich
French sandwich sous-marin
- sandwich sous-marinsubmarine sandwich
Hindi सब
- सब (sab)submarine sandwich
Icelandic langloka
- langlokasubmarine sandwich
Russian субмари́на-сэ́ндвич
- субмари́на-сэ́ндвич (submarína-sɛ́ndvič)submarine sandwich
Spanish emparedado submarino
- emparedado submarinosubmarine sandwich
Cite this entry
submarine sandwich. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/submarine%20sandwich
“submarine sandwich.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/submarine%20sandwich. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “submarine sandwich,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/submarine%20sandwich.
Source: submarine sandwich on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.