ampalaya

English

Etymology

From Tagalog ampalaya.

Noun

ampalaya (plural ampalayas)

1. (Philippines) bitter melon
   • 2016, Micky Fenix, “What the early Filipinos ate at the time of the Spaniards”, in Philippine Daily Inquirer:

     As we can all guess correctly, bitterness was obtained from plants like the ampalaya.

Kankanaey

Pronunciation

• (Standard Kankanaey) IPA^(key): /ʔampalaˈja/ [ʔʌm.pʌ.lʌˈja]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: am‧pa‧la‧ya

Noun

ampalayá

1. bitter melon

Masbatenyo

Noun

ampalaya

1. bitter melon

Tagalog

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paria (“bitter melon”). Compare Ilocano paria, Pangasinan palya, Kapampangan apalia, Masbatenyo ampalaya, Cebuano paliya, and Malay peria. Doublet of apalya.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔampalaˈja/ [ʔɐm.pɐ.lɐˈja]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: am‧pa‧la‧ya

Noun

ampalayá (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜋ᜔ᜉᜎᜌ)

1. bitter melon

   Synonyms: amargoso, apalya

2. (figurative) selfish person

Further reading

• “ampalaya”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*paria”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI
• Zorc, David Paul (1979–1983) Core Etymological Dictionary of Filipino: Part 1, page 14