samosa

samosa — noun

1. a fried, triangular pastry from South Asia, with a savoury filling such as spice

1.nounB1
Definition

a fried, triangular pastry from South Asia, with a savoury filling such as spiced potatoes, peas, or minced meat.

Example

Ayesha served a plate of crispy samosas with mint chutney at the party.

collocation: crispy samosas / plate of samosas

The stall on Park Road sells vegetable samosas for one pound fifty each.

Common collocations
  • vegetable samosa
  • chicken samosa
  • lamb samosa
  • crispy samosa
  • hot samosa
  • deep-fried samosa
  • plate of samosas
  • samosa with chutney
  • samosa filling
  • samosa pastry
Synonyms
  • turnover

    broader category; a turnover can be sweet or savoury, baked or fried, and is not specific to South Asian cuisine

  • empanada

    similar fried or baked filled pastry from Spanish and Latin American cuisines, typically larger and semicircular

  • spring roll

    different in shape (cylindrical) and wrapper (thin rice or wheat paper); can be fresh or fried

Usage Note

Countable noun — a samosa / two samosas. Often used in the plural when referring to the dish in general ('We had samosas for lunch'). Common in Indian restaurant menus and South Asian street-food contexts worldwide.

Common Mistakes

I ate a spring roll filled with potatoes and spices.' (when referring to a samosa)
I ate a samosa filled with potatoes and spices.
spring rolls are wrapped in thin rice or wheat wrappers and may be fresh or fried; samosas use a thicker pastry folded into triangles and are always fried.

Word family

  • samosas
    noun (plural)B1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Samosa, turnover, empanada, and spring roll all refer to stuffed wrapped dishes, but they differ in origin, wrapper, shape, and cooking method. A samosa is specifically South Asian — a small, triangular pastry that is always deep-fried and filled with spiced savoury ingredients. A turnover is a broader category: a piece of dough folded over a filling, often baked and sometimes sweet. Empanadas come from Spanish and Latin American cooking; they are usually larger, semicircular, and can be baked or fried. Spring rolls are associated with East and Southeast Asian cuisines, use a thin rice or wheat wrapper, and are cylindrical in shape — they may be served fresh (as in Vietnamese summer rolls) or fried. For example: 'At the Indian market I bought a vegetable samosa, while the bakery next door sold apple turnovers and the food truck served fried spring rolls.'

samosa ↗turnover ↗empanadaspring roll

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • plate of samosas
  • samosa with chutney
  • samosa and chai
  • order of samosas

Etymology

SanskritPersianHindustani (Hindi/Urdu)English

Samosa comes from the Hindi and Urdu word समोसा / سموسہ (samosa), which itself comes from the Persian سنبوسه (sambuse), meaning 'triangular pastry'. The Persian word traces back to the Sanskrit सम्पुट (sampuṭa), meaning 'enclosed' or 'folded'. The dish travelled from Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent around the 13th–14th centuries, where it became a popular street food.