empanada

See also: empañada

English

Small empanadas from Spain

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish empanada, past participle of empanar (“to wrap in bread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛmpəˈnɑːdə/
• Rhymes: -ɑːdə

Noun

empanada (plural empanadas)

1. Any of a variety of stuffed pastries found in Spanish, Filipino, and Latin American cuisine.

Related terms

• empanadilla

Translations

stuffed pastry

• Afrikaans: empanada
• Cherokee: ᎡᎻᏆᎾᏓ (emiquanada)
• Finnish: piirakka (fi), empanada (fi)
• Polish: empanada (pl) f
• Spanish: empanada (es) f, artal m

Further reading

• empanada on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Galician

Slices of Galician empanada, ready to be served

Empanada de millo ("maize pie")

Festa da Empanada ("pie fair"), Bandeira

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese enpãada, enpanada (13th century: Cantigas de Santa Maria), from *empãar (“to put into bread”). Perhaps under the influence of empanar (“to conceal”, literally “to put into a cloth”). Cognate with Portuguese empada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /empaˈnaða̝/

Noun

empanada f (plural empanadas)

1. (cooking) pie; traditional stuffed pastry usually composed of two crusts of fine bread and a filling of sauté of vegetables and either meat or fish

Related terms

• petada
• empanadilla
• empanar

Participle

empanada f sg

1. feminine singular of empanado

See also

• empanada on the Galician Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^gl

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “empanada”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “empanada”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “empanada”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “empanada”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “empanada”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Portuguese

empanadas

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (careful) /ẽ.paˈna.dɐ/, /ĩ.paˈna.dɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ẽ.pɐˈna.dɐ/ [ẽ.pɐˈna.ðɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ẽ.pɐˈna.dɐ/ [ẽ.pɐˈna.ðɐ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ẽ.pɐˈna.dɐ/

• Hyphenation: em‧pa‧na‧da

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Proto-Italic *en

Proto-Italic *en-

Latin in-

Old Spanish en-

Spanish en-

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-der.?

Latin pānis

Old Spanish pan

Spanish pan

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -āre

Old Spanish -ar

Spanish -ar

Spanish empanar

▲

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos

Proto-Italic *-ātos

Latin -ātus

Latin -āta

Spanish -ada

Spanish empanadabor.

Portuguese empanada

Borrowed from Spanish empanada.

Noun

empanada f (plural empanadas)

1. (cooking) large empanada

Related terms

• empada

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form..

Participle

empanada f sg

1. feminine singular of empanado

Further reading

• “empanada”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “empanada”, in Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Proto-Italic *en

Proto-Italic *en-

Latin in-

Old Spanish en-

Spanish en-

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-der.?

Latin pānis

Old Spanish pan

Spanish pan

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -āre

Old Spanish -ar

Spanish -ar

Spanish empanar

▲

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos

Proto-Italic *-ātos

Latin -ātus

Latin -āta

Spanish -ada

Spanish empanada

From empanar (“to bread”) + -ada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /empaˈnada/ [ẽm.paˈna.ð̞a]
• Rhymes: -ada
• Syllabification: em‧pa‧na‧da

Noun

empanada f (plural empanadas)

1. empanada
2. (colloquial) fraud

   Synonym: fraude

3. (humorous, colloquial) vagina

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagina

Derived terms

• empanada arreglada
• empanadilla

Descendants

• → Belizean Creole: panaades (from the plural form)
• → English: empanada

Adjective

empanada f sg

1. feminine singular of empanado

Participle

empanada f sg

1. feminine singular of empanado

Further reading

• “empanado”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• impanada
• panada

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Proto-Italic *en

Proto-Italic *en-

Latin in-

Old Spanish en-

Spanish en-

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-der.?

Latin pānis

Old Spanish pan

Spanish pan

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -āre

Old Spanish -ar

Spanish -ar

Spanish empanar

▲

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos

Proto-Italic *-ātos

Latin -ātus

Latin -āta

Spanish -ada

Spanish empanadabor.

Tagalog empanada

Borrowed from Spanish empanada. Compare Manado Malay panada. Doublet of panara.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔempaˈnada/ [ʔɛm.pɐˈn̪aː.d̪ɐ]
• Rhymes: -ada
• Syllabification: em‧pa‧na‧da

Noun

empanada (Baybayin spelling ᜁᜋ᜔ᜉᜈᜇ)

1. empanada (especially Philippine varieties)

Further reading

• “empanada”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “empanada”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018