yakitori

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/jækɪˈtɔəɹi/

noun

A Japanese shish kebab-type dish made with small pieces of chicken or other ingredients cooked on skewers, often marinated in soy sauce or seasoned with salt.

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Meanings

nounyakitori (countable and uncountable, plural yakitori or yakitoris)

plural yakitoris

  1. countableuncountableA Japanese shish kebab-type dish made with small pieces of chicken or other ingredients cooked on skewers, often marinated in soy sauce or seasoned with salt.

    We should have the bazaars full of yakitori pitches and geishas in bamboo cages.

    2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 851
    1 more example

    Friday night on Ninsei. He passed yakitori stands and massage parlors, a franchised coffee shop called Beautiful Girl, the electronic thunder of an arcade.

    1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 10

Origin

Borrowed from Japanese 焼(や)き鳥(とり) (yakitori), from 焼(や)き (yaki, “grilled, toasted”) + 鳥(とり) (tori, “bird”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

yakitori. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yakitori

MLA

“yakitori.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yakitori. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yakitori,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yakitori.

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