tempura

See also: tempurá

English

Alternative forms

• tenpura

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 天麩羅 (てんぷら, tenpura), from Portuguese, ultimately from Latin. Different dictionaries link two different original terms:

• Portuguese tempero (“seasoning”) or tempera (“he/she/it seasons; season!”), third-person present singular or imperative tense of temperar (“to season, to temper”), from Latin temperare (“to mix, to temper”).
• Portuguese têmpora (“Ember days”), from Latin tempora, plural of tempus (“time; period”). When Portuguese explorers (mostly Jesuit missionaries) arrived in Japan, they abstained from eating beef, pork, and poultry during the Ember days, a Catholic series of holidays. Instead, they ate fried vegetables and fish. This was the first contact of the Japanese with fried food, and since then they began associating the Portuguese word têmpora (which they pronounced tenpura) with such food.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛmpʊɹə/

Noun

tempura (countable and uncountable, plural tempuras)

1. A Japanese dish made by deep-frying vegetables, seafood, or other foods in a light batter.

   Hypernym: fritter

Translations

dish made by deep-frying food in a light batter

• Arabic: تِيمْبُورَا f (tīmbūrā)
• Belarusian: тэ́мпура f (témpura)
• Bulgarian: те́мпура f (témpura)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 天婦羅／天妇罗 (tin¹ fu⁵ lo⁴), 天妇罗 (tin¹ fu⁵ lo⁴), 天麩羅／天麸罗 (tin¹ fu¹ lo⁴), 天麸罗 (tin¹ fu¹ lo⁴)

  Hakka: ^{(please verify)} 天婦羅／天妇罗, ^{(please verify)} 天妇罗 (thên-pu-lá)

  Mandarin: 天婦羅／天妇罗 (zh) (tiānfùluó), 天妇罗 (zh) (tiānfùluó), 天麩羅／天麸罗 (tiānfūluó), 天麸罗 (tiānfūluó), 甜不辣 (tiánbúlà), 天富羅／天富罗 (tiānfùluó), 天富罗 (tiānfùluó)

  Min Nan: ^{(please verify)} 天麩羅／天麸罗, ^{(please verify)} 天麸罗 (thia̋n-pú-lah)

• Esperanto: tempuro
• Finnish: tempura
• French: tempura (fr) f
• German: Tempura n
• Greek: τεμπούρα f (tempoúra)
• Hebrew: טַמְפּוּרָה (he) f (tampurá)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: tempura m or f
• Japanese: 天ぷら (てんぷら, tenpura), 天麩羅 (てんぷら, tenpura), テンプラ (tenpura)
• Korean: 덴푸라 (ko) (denpura), 뎀뿌라 (demppura)
• Malay: tempura
• Marathi: तेम्पुरा f (tempurā)
• Nepali: तरुवा (taruwā)
• Persian: تمپورا (tempurâ)
• Polish: tempura (pl) f
• Portuguese: tempurá m
• Russian: тэ́мпура (ru) f (tɛ́mpura), те́мпура (ru) f (tɛ́mpura)
• Spanish: tempura
• Thai: เท็มปุระ (tem-bpù-rá)
• Ukrainian: те́мпура f (témpura)
• Vietnamese: tempura (vi), (phonetic respellings) thiên phu la, thiên phụ la

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Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 天麩羅 (てんぷら, tenpura), from Portuguese, ultimately from Latin. Different dictionaries link two different original terms:

• Portuguese tempero (“seasoning”) or tempera (“he/she/it seasons; season!”), third-person present singular or imperative tense of temperar (“to season, to temper”), from Latin temperare (“to mix, to temper”).
• Portuguese têmpora (“Ember days”), from Latin tempora, plural of tempus (“time; period”). When Portuguese explorers (mostly Jesuit missionaries) arrived in Japan, they abstained from eating beef, pork, and poultry during the Ember days, a Catholic series of holidays. Instead, they ate fried vegetables and fish. This was the first contact of the Japanese with fried food, and since then they began associating the Portuguese word têmpora (which they pronounced tenpura) with such food.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /təm.pu.ra/
• Hyphenation: têm‧pu‧ra

Noun

tempura

1. (cooking) A Japanese dish made by deep-frying vegetables, seafood, or other foods in a light batter.

Further reading

• “tempura” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 天麩羅 (てんぷら, tenpura), from Portuguese, ultimately from Latin, cognate with either temperare or tempo, tempora. See above for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /temˈpu.ra/, [t̪emˈpuːrä]
• Rhymes: -ura
• Hyphenation: tem‧pù‧ra

Noun

tempura m or f (uncountable)

1. tempura

   Hypernym: frittura

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 天麩羅 (てんぷら, tenpura), from Portuguese, ultimately from Latin. See above for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /temˈpuɾa/ [t̪ẽmˈpu.ɾa]
• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Hyphenation: tem‧pu‧ra

Noun

tempura m or f (plural tempuras)

1. tempura