tamal

From Spanish tamal, from Nahuatl tamalli (“wrapped”).

tamal (plural tamales or (proscribed) tamals)

1. Alternative form of tamale (Mexican food dish).
   • 1911, Coffee and Tea Industries and the Flavor Field, volume 34, page 497:

     I fully recognize the excellence of the tamal of the gringos. It is a superb standby for picknickers, prospectors, camping-outers, school children, and factory lunches.

   • 2000, Bruce Geddes, Mexico, page 43:

     Someone from Campeche may brag about a tamal made there with a salsa of guajillo chiles, axiote (a regional spice), jitomate...

   • 2007, Robin S. Goldstein, Fearless Critic Houston Restaurant Guide: Brutally Honest Undercover Chefs and Food Writers Rate More Than 400 Places to Eat, page 314:

     Ask for Salvadoran crema to accompany whichever you choose; it's thick and somewhat akin to sour cream, and you'll get that much more pleasure from your tamal.

   • 2018, John Tullock, “What You Will Find in This Book”, in Appalachian Cooking: New & Traditional Recipes, New York, N.Y.: The Countryman Press, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN:

     For example, tamales have been around Knoxville for so long that they’re considered a local food, even though the tamal is an ancient Mayan idea.

The form tamal is preferred by some to tamale, as tamal is the Standard Spanish singular form while tamale is generally analyzed as a back-formation from the plural tamales, thus proscribed. Note however that tamale exists in Spanish dialect.

• tamale

• Malta, malta, talma

támal (plural támlem)

1. mouth
2. tooth

• tamakéñish
• tamawet

tamal

1. tamale.

tamal

1. tamale.

tamal

1. Alternative spelling of dhamal

tamal

1. tamal

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *tɨma. Compare Classical Nahuatl tamalli (“tamale”).

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ˈtamal/
• (Teotepeque) IPA^(key): /ˈtamaɬ/
• (Tacuba) IPA^(key): /ˈtaːmal/

tamal (plural tajtamal)

1. tortilla

   Nikwa ume tamal sejsenpa kwak nitakwa

   I eat two tortillas every time I have a meal

• tashkal (tortilla made of tender corn)

tamál

1. poison

• tamale (dialectal)

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl tamalli.

• IPA^(key): /taˈmal/ [t̪aˈmal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ta‧mal

tamal m (plural tamales)

1. (Central America, Mexico) tamal, tamale
2. (Central America, Mexico) bundle, clumsy package
3. (Central America, Mexico) embroilment, imbroglio

   Synonyms: embrollo, lío

• English: tamal, tamale

• hallaca
• huma, humita

• “tamal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

tamal (plural tamallar)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.