tamale

ta·ma·le
T1A1M3A1L1E1
UK/təˈmɑː.liː/Canada, US/təˈmɑ.li/Canada/təˈmɒ.li/Australia, New Zealand/təˈmɐː.liː/

noun

A Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.

Similar
humitatamal
OriginSpanish tamales ← Nahuatl tamalli ← Proto-Uto-Aztecan *tïmaL- →
UncommonScrabble 8
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Meanings

tamale1

nountamale (plural tamales)

plural tamales

  1. A Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.

    She would peel back the husk, ladle over the salsa verde, stab a plastic fork straight down into the heart of the masa, and hand the tamale over to me.

    2023, Justin Torres, Blackouts, Granta Books (2024), pages 70-71

    Synonyms: humita, tamal

Tamale2

proper noun
  1. A city in Ghana, the capital city of the Northern Region.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.

Similar
humitatamal

More synonyms by meaning

noundough stuffed with a meat mixture and sometimes wrapped in corn husks and steamed

Similar
tamal
Broader
dish

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Uto-Aztecan*tïmaL-
  2. Nahuatltamalli
  3. Spanishtamales
  4. Englishtamale

Back-formation from the plural tamales, derived from Latin American Spanish tamales, plural of tamal, derived from Nahuatl tamalli (“wrapped”), derived from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *tïmaL-. Compare O'odham cemait (“tortilla”), Hopi tuma (“stone griddle for cooking corn flatbread”), Ute tʉ'ma- (“to roast under ashes”).

More words from Spanish, Nahuatl, Proto-Uto-Aztecan

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 塔馬利 /塔马利, 墨西哥玉米粉蒸肉
  • 塔馬利 /塔马利 (tǎmǎlì)Mexican dish
  • 墨西哥玉米粉蒸肉 (mòxīgē yùmǐ fěn zhēngròu)Mexican dish
Japanese タマレ
  • タマレ (tamare)Mexican dish
Polish tamal
  • tamalMexican dish
Spanish tamal, tamale
  • tamalMexican dish
  • tamaleMexican dish
  • pishqueMexican dish
  • pacoMexican dish
Tagalog tamales
  • tamalesMexican dish

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with tamale

RaleighAliBalimalifinalekaliDiwalimalleesvengalifederalefarfalleDalíTsinandali
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

tomalley

Anagrams

malatemeatalMatale
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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