What does "falafel" mean?

A Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas or broad beans and other ingredients, often served in a pita.

What is a synonym for "falafel"?

Common synonyms include: felafel.

//fəˈlɑfəl// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas or broad beans and other ingredients, often served in a pita. uncountable
"There's a stall at the market that sells fantastic falafel."
2
small croquette of mashed chick peas or fava beans seasoned with sesame seeds wordnet
3
A pita with falafel balls as a filling. countable
"I ate lafa — falafel with all the regular stuffings and sauces wrapped in a pizza size pita instead of being stuffed in it. Etai ordered a regular falafel. My lafiz was twice the size of his falafel and although neither of us could finish the lafiz, we embarked on it together."
4
A single falafel ball. countable
"The stallholder puts salad into an open pita bread, followed by the four falafels, and then liberally covers them with hummus."

"Maybe she died with a falafel in her hands."

Borrowed from Arabic فَلَافِل (falāfil). Doublet of peepul and pepper.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.