Samosa

//səˈmoʊsə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A South Asian snack consisting of a deep-fried triangular turnover filled with vegetables (especially potatoes) or meat.

    "Homemade samosas are a world away from those dry cardboard triangles sold under the name in supermarkets. Instead, they have delicately flaky and deliciously rich pastry and a generous stuffing that’s easily tweaked to suit all tastes. […] Repeat with the remaining dough balls and filling, making sure each samosa is well sealed."

  2. 2
    small turnover of Indian origin filled with vegetables or meat and fried and served hot wordnet

Example

More examples

"Homemade samosas are a world away from those dry cardboard triangles sold under the name in supermarkets. Instead, they have delicately flaky and deliciously rich pastry and a generous stuffing that’s easily tweaked to suit all tastes. […] Repeat with the remaining dough balls and filling, making sure each samosa is well sealed."

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindustani سموسہ (samosa) / समोसा (samosā), from Classical Persian سنبوسه (sanbōsa), from Middle Persian *sambōsag. Doublet of sambusa, sambusak, sambuseh, sambuusa, and samsa.

Related phrases

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