dumpling

A folk word, first attested in c. 1600s, apparently from a Norfolk (East Anglian) dialect, of uncertain origin:

• perhaps from some Low German word (compare dümpeln (“bobbing up and down”)),
• or from the rare dialectal adjective dump (“lump, of the consistency of dough”) (first attested in the late 1800s), +‎ -ling (diminutive suffix), although dumpling is recorded much earlier. However, compare dumpy (“short and stout”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌmp.lɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmplɪŋ

dumpling (plural dumplings)

1. (cooking) A ball of dough that is cooked and may have a filling and/or additional ingredients in the dough. [from 17th c.]
   1. (chiefly UK) Specifically, a ball of dough used in stews and other sauced dishes; a thick noodle.
   2. (chiefly US) Specifically, a food composed of a dough wrapper around a filling.
2. (endearing) A term of endearment.

   My little dumpling.

3. (mildly vulgar) A piece of excrement.
   • 2018 Brent Butt as Brent Herbert Leroy, "Sasquatch Your Language", Corner Gas Animated

     Wherever legitimate tracks are found there's always some fresh scat, y'know, poo, flop, dumplings.

• See also Thesaurus:dumpling

• canederlo, gnocchi
• dim sim
• dim sum
• empanada
• har gow
• pierogi
• varenyky
• pelmeni
• quenelle
• ravioli
• shaomai, shumai
• wonton

• “dumpling” in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 7th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1963 (1967 printing), →OCLC.

• dumpling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia